999: Nine Shinobi Behind Nine Doors With Nine Hours
by MircThomas19
Summary: Naruto was just a normal college boy but that changes when he wakes up on board a ship with eight strangers. The weird thing is that he has the feeling that he knew most of them from somewhere. But with nine hours until the ship sinks to go through nine doors in order to escape, can Naruto figure it all out or will he never make it to the ninth door? NaruHina
1. Nine Strangers

999: Nine Shinobi Behind Nine Doors With Nine Hours

Nine Strangers

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or 999.**

It was dark and foggy night as the nameless cruiser ship drifted through the currents, seemingly going nowhere in particular. In the background was no foghorn or light from a nearby lighthouse; the sea had nothing but darkness and a dense fog. Then, a countdown was heard; ticking like in a grandfather clock, foreign and yet still readable. It was counting down from the number nine…eight…seven…six…five…four…three…two…one…zero.

*BOOM!*

That timer had set something off and a section along the lower hull of the ship exploded! That shook even the water nearby the sight of the explosion, now a huge hole that was letting in water at very slow rate despite its size; that ship should be well on its way to sinking. But that all doesn't matter as the impact of the explosion had awoken someone from their sleep rather violently and rudely.

It was a young man, almost passed his twenties but when he started to move off the very thin bed he was lying on…BANG! He hit the ceiling really hard and before he could recover from the recoil, he instead fell off the bed into the very hard floor beneath. It turned out hat he was sleeping on a three bunk bed and more specifically, on the top bunk which will explain hitting the ceiling and the hard fall clearly.

"OWW! Dammit!" The young man clearly didn't appreciate what had happened already since awakening from his slumber as he rubbed the large bump on his forehead; where he hit the ceiling. "What the hell is going on?" He muttered as he got up from the floor only to feel dizzy and uneasy for a short moment before realizing that he didn't recognize his surroundings at all. "What the hell!? Where the hell am I!?" He panicked for a while until the ship shook again, nearly causing him to fall off his feet again. That had calmed him down a little, 'Okay. Okay Naruto. Just keep cool and look around.'

Apparently this young man's name was Naruto Uzumaki from a country known as Japan but that wasn't important right now for him. Naruto just took a good gander on what was in the room he was standing in. It appeared to be a quarters or something with a set of two three bunk beds on opposite sides to each other, a sink with a bulletin board above, a table with a set of chairs and a window that was completely circular in shape. This looked a lot like the rooms from the old cruiser ships that Naruto learned in history class; of course, he was the only one to pay the most attention to the professor during the boring lectures.

Still, there was something else that stand out more than that window. It was metal door on the door end of the room. It had the number [9] in red paint for some reason. There was even some kind of device to the right which seemed to be some kind of scanner but Naruto ignored that; that door is the only thing keeping him from leaving, he had to see if it can be opened.

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

"Dammit! Open up!" Naruto banged on it with all his strength but the door won't budge at all or yield to his pounding. But, as Naruto raised his left fist to strike the door again, he noticed something that he didn't when he first awoke.

On his left wrist was a bracelet. One of a design that Naruto wasn't familiar with. It looked like a watch or something only it didn't tell the time but a single number. The number [5]. Just like on the door. "What...what the hell is this?" Naruto muttered to himself and he then turned over the bracelet to see that the strap had no button or hook to unstrap it; no matter how hard Naruto tugs on it, the bracelet won't come off. "Dammit! Why won't it come off!?" Naruto said until he gave up on tugging and turned the bracelet over again and saw that there were dials on both the right and left side of the part that shown the number [5] but no matter how many times Naruto pressed them, nothing ever happened.

Naruto was getting a little tired of all these questions without answers so he just looked around the room again and saw the window still on the same wall as before. This time, Naruto was planning to see if he really was on a ship. If he was, there should be the ocean or any other body of water big enough for a ship to sail in. But when Naruto did look through it, the window showed only darkness, pitch black darkness.

"Dang it! What is going here?" Naruto was too tired to even yell but when he started to move away from the window, he heard something that sent shivers throughout his body. A cracking sound, like when a glass hits the ground. Naruto looked back at the window slowly as if time itself had become sluggish only to see that the window had a crack in it.

*Crack! Crack! Crack!*

Naruto could only watch in horror as the cracks in the window got bigger and bigger until the window broke wide open, letting in a gusher of water! "Dammit!" Naruto rushed towards the door in retaliation to the new circumstance of drowning in the room. "God dammit! Why doesn't this thing open!?" The door just isn't listening to even a young man about to drown in the room as it still didn't budge to Naruto's pounding at its steel metal plates and bolts.

Naruto soon got tired again and just looked back to see that the water still was coming in this seal tight room; it slowly raised until it made it passed it ankles. "Guess I will have to find at least something to open this goddamm door." Fortunately for Naruto, he was always the champion at finding things all the way from being kids in Elementary School. So now it was his cue to find a way out!

With flashes of the surroundings, a spark surged through his mind as it focused on a simple objective: Seek a way out!

XXXXX

The first thing Naruto always does in a treasure hunt is to gather what can be found in plain view so that he will have the strength left to find the others. And he did find such items, a note folded into two was attached to the bulletin board while on the sink was a picture frame containing the picture of a ship like the Titanic due to its shape and for being surrounded in fog.

The note was white in color but Naruto noticed that by the way he was holding it, there was a red line on the bottom to the left and ends at the folded indications. A blue line started at the same spot going to the right judging by the arrow on the end pointing in that direction. Above the red line a red bolded triangle with the right angle at the top left corner; there was also a red triangle that was not bolded with the right angle on the bottom right corner. Above the blue line with the arrow were triangles too in the color blue but were have opposite corners from top to bottom compared to the ones on the left.

Naruto didn't know what that meant but didn't care and kept looking only to see that the three bunk bed from which he fell from had a blue suitcase with a keyhole and a four digit lock so Naruto ignored it. Next to his three bunk bed was a tall pot with a cap on, the clear sign of hiding something so Naruto looked in to find a blue colored key; it was meant for the blue suitcase but without the four digit combination, it won't open. The stand carrying the pot had a door too so Naruto opened it while trying to not get his bottom wet from the rising waters; inside, he found a screwdriver.

It was prefect since the picture frame had screws in it. After loosening the screws, the picture came out of the frame and Naruto saw that there was something on the other side; it looked like the triangles on the note from the bulletin board. It meant to Naruto that the note contained half the combination to unlock the blue suitcase and this photograph was the key; so far, Naruto had deduced that the note said in order;

[7] [4] [6] [3]

That only meant that Naruto had to find a not similar to this one in order to get the entire combination for the blue suitcase as well as something red in color; maybe another suitcase. It didn't take long for Naruto to inspect the bunk beds and found another note indeed but it not just triangles but squares too on both sides. It also had a blue line and a red one with an arrow pointing to the right. It said this according to the key on the photograph;

[0] [2] [8] [5]

Now that Naruto had gotten the full combinations, he could open the suitcase but something had told him that he will need to find and open a red suitcase so he started to look for the suitcase and the key to open it. Naruto had found the red suitcase in a closet next to his bed bunk but when he found a red key taped to a full body mirror,

Naruto saw something that he couldn't take his eyes away from. There, in the reflection of the mirror, he saw himself for sure with his sun kissed blond hair and ocean blue eyes along with his weird birthmarks that resemble whisker marks. But, he saw that his eyes were baggy and his skin wriggled; he looked like he hadn't gotten any sleep in days, like he was nearly dead.

"Who did this to me? Why the hell is all this happening to me?" Naruto muttered until it hit him like a heavy mallet to the head. He remembered, remembered the exact things that happened before walking up in this room about to be submerged in water.

 _Flashback Begins!_

 _It was midnight when Naruto was finally back at his old apartment. When he joined college, he needed a place to stay and eat rather than at school and this was the closest place to the college he was studying at. Apartment room 201 was run down compared to the others, costing only 630$ a month which should barely scratched the fortune that his long deceased parents left him but Naruto had stayed in the one room affair for 3 years and 7 months so he was desperate in need for a job sooner or later to pay for the rest of his college days._

 _But this evening, Naruto noticed that his window was left open; he could have sworn to leave it closed when he left earlier that day. But when Naruto approached the window, to close and keep the cold evening wind out, he saw someone in the reflection! When Naruto turned to get a better look at the intruder, he couldn't tell much since it was someone wearing a thick black cloak with a gasmask covering the face but Naruto suddenly felt drowsy and dizzy. The room started to fill thick with white smoke._

 _{Consider this a privilege.} Naruto started to hear a strange voice that he didn't even recognize to be human at all; it was like the speaker spoke through a voice changer to hide their voice. {You have been selected to take part in a game. The [Nonary Game]. It is a game…where you will your life on the line.} That was the last thing Naruto remembered before passing out and the world became dark._

 _Flashback Ends!_

"That's right! That is what has happened to me! That bastard had gassed me in my apartment and took me here, where ever that is, for this [Nonary Game]!" Naruto said as he finished searching through his memories. Then the cold water reached half way to his kneecaps which alerted him back to reality. Now that he had both the combinations and the keys, he can open the suitcases and see what there is to use in order to get out.

The first order of business was the blue suitcase, the first one he found in the room. He used the combination according to the key found in the back of the ship photo that went like this: (0263). Along with the blue key, the suitcase opened to show a file book like those used to sort out papers and other things.

Inside this file book talked about a concept called the [digital root] which was found by adding a certain number of numbers and if the result is a double digit number, the two digits are combined to form the [digital root]. The example went like this; 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 = 14 1 + 4 = [5] so the [digital root] will be [5]. Along with this concept on paper were a set of three scan cards with the numbers [1], [2], and [3].

With that found, Naruto hurried to the red suitcase and entered the red key along with the combination from the notes translated by the key to be: (7485). Inside were a set of three scan cards too but with the numbers [6], [7] and [8]. That was it, there is nothing left to find in this room and the water was now knee high so Naruto trudged to the door.

He then got the mechanism that seemed to act like the doors lock so if Naruto can unlock it, the door will open and let him out. After trying every single one of the scan cards at once failed, Naruto realized that if he could try to find three numbers who [digital root] is [5] then the door will be unlocked. He eventually found the only possible group of numbers to be: [1], [6] and [7]. They add up like so: 1 + 6 + 7 = 14 1 + 4 = [5] That is why it work as the door now opened with a creaking sound but Naruto didn't care; the door was open and now he could escape.

XXXXX

The sight of the door open was enough to make Naruto knee down with a released breath only for a few seconds before charging out of the room like a wild animal after the cage was unlocked. Naruto had saw that the door led into a long hallway which seemed to prove that he was on one of the lower decks of this ship. Naruto then ran through the hallway in order to get away from the flooding waters only to see a plain door facing him.

This one didn't have a number on it but Naruto was not taking chances and tried to open it only to see that the door yielded rather easily. On the other side, it was something that took his breath away; a fancy room with wooden polished staircase going up through the ceiling. Naruto knew that he was either in a fancy mansion or an expensive ship but before he could stare longer, he heard a noise from behind.

Naruto turned to see the water from his room still coming but this time, a wave was coming! "Arrgh!" Naruto furiously abandoned the door and raced up the stairs to see another door this time with a label 'C Deck'. Naruto ignored it and passed through the door that opened to his desperate might and Naruto saw another set and stairs and climbed those as well to see a door with the label 'B Deck'. Once again, Naruto ignored it and passed through the door and again and saw yet another set of stairs but when he just started to run up them, he saw a sight that froze him in his steps.

There, on the left were four strangers coming down from one of the doors up there and three more hurried down from the right. They also froze when they saw him but it was only short lived compared to the time it took for Naruto to recover. They walked up to him as Naruto was blocking the only stair way down for them.

The first one was a woman of immense beautify with a well-developed body and long blonde hair like him but with revealing clothes and jewelry almost like a [dancer]. "Hey get out the hell of the way!" She yelled at him but before Naruto could respond, she pushed him aside only a little and raced for the door that Naruto had just came from!

Naruto raced for her and proved to be faster than the [dancer] as he beat her for the door. "No! Don't! There is water coming from the bottom deck! It come be on the C Deck by now!" Naruto protested and succeeded and calming down the [dancer] a little until the others came for Naruto to get a better look at them.

The first one to go after the [dancer] was a boy about his age but with clothes more casual than the [dancer]'s, almost like a biker with an impatient look on his face and [silver hair]. The next one was an immense elderly man with the build of a [lion] and black hair that drifted downward covering his entire back. After the [lion] was a young girl, almost like a pre-teen with [pink hair] and a high voice. Right behind her was a much older man who was dressed like a [prince]. After them came the remaining two, a large burly man with hair sticking out his cap, standing strong and firm like a [mountain]; behind him was a sweaty pale man who seemed to be afraid of everything around him with black hair in the shape of a [bird's nest].

"What do you mean water!?" The [mountain] demanded and Naruto sighed as he can clearly see that they won't listen, the blond himself doesn't know yet if the water was still rising or stopped. Reluctantly, Naruto let the crowd go down the stairs only to forget about investigating the rising water when they all saw two double doors that all have a number emblazed on with paint like the one in the room Naruto woke up in. The one of the left had the number [5] like Naruto's while the one on the right had the number [4].

"Dammit! There are doors like that too!" The boy with the [silver hair] cursed at this sight and the [lion] nodded.

"I have checked all the hallways upstairs too, they all have locked doors. We can't go through these." Naruto couldn't believe it; he was about to forget about this crazy crowd and race up the stairs only to hear that the doors up there were all impassable. And then came the question that Naruto had to ask,

"Did you awaken in a room with a numbered door?" When those words were asked, it started answers to be received there and through like an echo in a cavern.

"Me too." "Yeah so did me." "I woke up in a room like that." "There was a numbered door in mine." Naruto couldn't think of what to say about all this; why were complete strangers invited to this game under the same circumstances as himself?

The boy with the [silver hair] couldn't it anymore and tried to open the numbered doors here on the 'B Deck'. It didn't budge. "Damm! Open you asshole!" The boy tired and tried again but had no luck.

"Move. You are in the way." The [mountain] man pushed the [silver hair] boy out of the way and tried to move them with all his might. The doors only prove to be stronger as they still didn't budge.

"Dammit. These bastards are just not moving any time soon." While the [mountain] was grumbling to himself, Naruto checked the doors out closer only to discover,

"Maybe these doors work like the ones that locked the rooms from which all of us awoke in." Naruto theorized and everyone else got a good look at it and agreed thoroughly but before Naruto could say any more, he froze at the sight he behold still going down the stairs.

A girl about his age and was really pretty. She had a slim but graceful figure with hair that only the clear night sky black can muster. Her eyes were like a moon, clear and while with black pupils. But Naruto knew that this was no stranger; this was Hinata Hyuga, a girl he knew for sure but hadn't seen since they were children.

She too froze at the sight of Naruto and only the latter had the strength to even approach her while Hinata stayed still like a statue. But before Naruto could get even close, the ship shook again and caused Naruto lose his balance. He fell down the stairs and landed on his back but he was penned down by Hinata who also fell but had a softer landing, right into his chest.

Time had frozen as they gazed into each other's eyes, blushing by how close they were. In fact, their faces were close enough to kiss each other but not of them moved in. They instead stayed that way, not wanting to get up or even move.

In the midst of this interaction came a voice that Naruto swore to never forget in his life. The voice that sounded cold like metal and harsh like the desert night. It was mechanical, like that of a robot but it had tone in it that caused everyone else to cringe.

{I welcome you all, from the bottom of my heart, to my vessel.} Any chances of continuing and any hints of this budging romance were broken like a magic spell. Everyone was able to trace that voice to a speaker on one of the corners where the ceiling meets two of the walls that form the room the strangers were in. {My name is [Zero]…captain of this ship. I am also the one who invited you all here. It is time for the Nonary Game to begin.}

End of Chapter 1

 ***Hello everyone! This is MircThomas19 here with a new story in a new genre combo altogether. I have done pretty much all romance and mostly adventure but this game called 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors or simply 999 had always drawn to me about horror and suspense; it was rated M for mature for all its scary scenes, gore, blood, and coarse language after all.**

 **I have thought about doing a story on it since I love the game so much but I had to think hard on who was going to fill out the roles. Some were easy, some took a little hard decision making but I managed to put it all together for the sake of those who read the Naruto manga and played the game.**

 **I will have to make changes to the story based on how well I remember it and I will try my best to have the room escape tutorials in words. I sure hope you aren't too offended by my choice of characters because I had to choose a Naruto character to fill out the ninth man who turned out to be a scientist and yet died the first. Also for Ace who happened to be the main villain as well. Enjoy it!***

 **Characters:**

 **Junpei ~ Naruto Uzumaki**

 **June/Akane Kurashiki ~ Hinata Hyuga**

 **Ace/Gentarou Hongou ~ Madara Uchiha**

 **Lotus/Hazuki Kashiwabara ~ Tsunade**

 **Seven/Real Name Unknown ~ Jiraiya**

 **Snake/Light Field ~ Neji Hyuga**

 **Clover/Clover Field ~ Sakura Haruno**

 **Santa/Aoi Kurashiki ~ Kiba Inuzuka**

 **Ninth Man/Teruaki Kubota ~ Danzo Shimura**


	2. The Rules of the Game

999

The Rules of the Game and the First Death

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or 999.**

 _Previously on 999: 9 Shinobi Behind 9 Doors with 9 Hours,_

 _Time had frozen as they gazed into each other's eyes, blushing by how close they were. In fact, their faces were close enough to kiss each other but not of them moved in. They instead stayed that way, not wanting to get up or even move._

 _In the midst of this interaction came a voice that Naruto swore to never forget in his life. The voice that sounded cold like metal and harsh like the desert night. It was mechanical, like that of a robot but it had tone in it that caused everyone else to cringe._

 _{I welcome you all, from the bottom of my heart, to my vessel.} Any chances of continuing and any hints of this budging romance were broken like a magic spell. Everyone was able to trace that voice to a speaker on one of the corners where the ceiling meets two of the walls that form the room the strangers were in. {My name is [Zero]…captain of this ship. I am also the one who invited you all here. It is time for the Nonary Game to begin.}_

That voice was like a straight cutter as it wormed out of the speaker mixed with static in the background that was so strong, you could feel it in the air. Still, there was no mistake as Naruto could even feel that same person talking to him in his apartment room as the blonde faded out. It was clear enough to the crowd that surrounds Naruto, this voice was no stranger to them.

"Hey you asshole! What the hell is all this?" Silver cursed at the speaker. "Come out where I can see your bastard face!" He didn't care how useless it was, he still had to get this out of his system before he so much as explodes.

"Why are you doing this to us!? Is it a grudge!? What is it!?" Lion wanted answers as well as Silver. But that voice of Zero was not to be daunted,

{I mean to have you all participate in a game. Some of you, I know, are familiar with this game.} Naruto was confused because it seemed that this Zero knew the strangers more than they did to Naruto with the exception of Hinata. Zero just went on, {The [Nonary Game]. It is a game…where you will your life on the line.}

That is exactly what that intruder in his apartment said to Naruto before the blond went out; this Zero was definitely the one who kidnapped him on that night. But Naruto wasn't the one who responded afterwards.

"Nonary Game…?" The dancer seemed confused, she wasn't familiar with this game as the ones Zero was talking about.

"What the hell does that mean?" The mountain was no different and muttered in confusion about all this. That is until the voice from the speaker continued,

{The rules of the [Nonary Game] can be found. On yourselves.} Zero told the desperate crowd who drove their sweaty nervous hands into their pockets to each find a sheet of paper. This stirred up everyone's voices too,

"Hey there is something in my pocket!" "Same here!" "What is this!?" "How did it get in my pocket!?" All these voices shout out like before while Naruto just helped Hinata sit down next to him; the blond then went into his own pocket to find a sheet of paper with writing on it.

"Here is one too!" Naruto had to say that until he noticed that the [lion] man walked up to him.

"Then would you mind reading it for us young man?" Naruto noticed that everyone else was staring at him, like they were waiting for Naruto to read; before it could get awkward, the blonde did as he was asked of.

XXXXX

On this ship, you will find a handful of doors emblazoned with numbers. We will call them the [numbered doors]. The doors in front of you are a pair of the same.

The key to opening these numbered doors are the [numbered bracelets] that each of you possess. Should you total the numbers on your [numbered bracelets]…and find the [digital root] of that number is equal to the number of that door, the door will open. Only those who have opened the door may pass through.

There are, however, limits. Only [3-5] can pass through one numbered door. All those who enter must leave, and all who enter must contribute.

XXXXX

[Bracelet], Naruto paused to look at the hunk and bulky piece of metal and plastic on his wrist. Naruto looked around to see that everyone else had one too and had come up the same conclusion. They all must play to game to get out and they must follow the rules.

Naruto went back to his sheet of rules and started off where he left off.

XXXXX

The purpose of this game is simple. Leave this ship alive. It is hidden, but an exit can be found. Seek a way out…seek a door that carries a [9].

XXXXX

Naruto, by now, had reached the end of the letter and paused to see how everyone will react. There was a moment of silence instead while Naruto tried to move his head around this; is this is a game, what happens when you break the rules? IF anyone heard that, Naruto will soon regret speaking or thinking so soon.

That was when the speaker came back to life once more. {There is one last thing I must tell you. As you have no doubt surmised, this ship has begun to sink. On April 14, 1912…the famous ocean liner Titanic crashed into an iceberg. After remaining afloat for 2 hours and 40 minutes, it sank beneath the water of the North Atlantic. I will give you more time. [9 hours]. That is the time you will be given to make your escape.}

That was it and the speaker died again. Then there was a new sound altogether that rang in the room. The sound a bell. Like one in a grandfather clock that will ring at every new hour of the day given the number of rings in a row. It turned out to come from indeed a clock, one that was half way up the stairs to the doors leading to a supposed 'A Deck'.

Everyone waited for the bells to end as they never lost count of the rings. 7…8…9…The bell stopped ringing and the 10th one never came which meant only one thing. That is was now 9 o'clock; given how dark it is, it must be the one in the evening. Naruto saw nothing but darkness out of his cell at bottom deck; all this added up to the deadline of [6 AM] of next morning.

{Now it is time.} That same voice erupted from the speaker for the third time since the crowd all gathered in the room. {Let out game begin. I wish you all the best of luck.} That was it, that speaker never went off ever again and now the nine strangers are left in the room trying to decide what to do next.

Right now, Silver was cursing at the speaker with words that are powerful enough to make a sailor blush red but everyone else were silent as a lamb. That is until Hinata went up to Naruto with a clear frighten expression on her face. "…Naru-chan I am scared." Hinata didn't seemed to be bothered by what everyone will say to that nickname, only to stay with her old childhood friend.

Thankfully they didn't notice, they only left the 'B-Deck' to hopefully find another way out but with the lower decks filled with water, the upper decks have windows sealed off and any other door locked with strange symbols above the keyholes (one was a circle with two lines going horizontal and vertical, the other was found as a key reader with a fancy lower case 'h' with a dash across its top), it seemed that the two [numbered doors] are the only way through this ship. Still, no one approached them and soon they saw that they spent a half hour wasted.

"Just what the hell are we going to do now!?" Silver shouted, clearly outraged by what has happened so far.

"What I want to know is what that girl called you Naru-chan?" The dancer said while facing and pointing at Naruto who never left the 'B Deck' or Hinata at all.

"Is that your name?" The pink hair girl spoke too and soon everyone wanted answers to their own questions. Naruto couldn't hide it anymore,

"No that is just a nickname from when we were kids." Naruto may be a college student but he did have a reputation for being outspoken even as a child and he was always known to think ahead; that meant Naruto was not taking any chances with him accidentally revealing his real name to Zero who could have been listening to them. How else was he able to speak to them if he had no other way of knowing when the crowd reached this very room?

"Yeah. Naruto and I were childhood friends since elementary~!" Naruto knew one thing will never change about his childhood friend was her mood swings from shy to chatty in a very instance if and only if he was around her. "And my name is…" Hinata was about to foil Naruto's plan until the blonde covered her mouth while the Mountain bet Naruto the punch.

"DON'T!" Everyone cringed to the booming voice that match the mountain man's enormous size. "We can't just say our names out here? What if Zero is still listening to us!?" It was like the Mountain man had picked up Naruto's thoughts exactly about the situation. Still that sent off yet another passing of words and panicking people in the room until Naruto enough of this.

"SHUT UP!" That got everyone's attention; who knew that a college student will be bold and loud enough to match the [mountain] man in volume. "He is right about not saying our names to each other for [Zero] to listen on and I have a solution to this." That really got everyone listening, "We need to make up code names." That simple and to the point and yet no one was complaining about how simple a childlike it can sound as.

"And just on what ground should we make our code names on?" The [pink hair] girl asked and Naruto hadn't lost his smirk but didn't say a word. Only lifting his left arm and show the one thing that stood out as.

"Our [bracelets]?" The [dancer] muttered as she looked at hers with everyone following in suite.

"Yeah. It doesn't matter if [Zero] himself or someone working for him had put the bracelets on; that bastard knows us by our numbers so let's make code names based on that. If we do, [Zero] wouldn't learn something he doesn't know about us." Naruto explained in full detail. Everyone soon caught on and muttered about how there was no better choice of code names.

Then the [lion] man smiled and spoke up, "If that is the case…I will like to be called [Ace]." Naruto titled his head about that choice for a name until he smirked,

"Like the card ace in card games? Then your number is…" Naruto left off for Ace to pick up with a smirk of his own. Ace then nodded and revealed his bracelet to be the number [1].

Then the [prince] spoke up after a while of silence with his own smile. "My turn. I will like the name [Snake] if you don't mind." That was completely irrelevant and yet Snake picked up the expression of confusion among the crowds. "Since Ace's name is based on cards, I will like to base my name off die; in that game, two is the least number to have receive when a set of die. That is called 'snake-eyes' so it fits my numbered bracelet." Snake then showed his bracelet to have the number [2]. "Also, the term 'snake-eyes' matches since I am blind." Now that took Naruto by surprise because he thought that the white eyes with no pupils was like normal eyes but he never thought to ask if this man is blind.

"I want to next and I want to be called [Seven]." The mountain said and his stood out more than 'Ace' and 'Snake'; it was like he couldn't think of any other code name for his number bracelet which happened to be [7], what a surprise.

"I will like [Clover]." The pink hair girl went next and revealed her bracelet number to be [4] just like the lucky four-leaf clover. Yet there was just something between Clover and Snake that Naruto wanted to find out,

"Okay you two. What is the beef and cuddling about?" Naruto said and everyone wanted to know too. And yet with all this peering pressure, the two didn't acted stressed out; In fact, Snake only smiled while Clover blushed and answered in a way that shocked everyone.

"We are siblings." Naruto couldn't believe it, they had nothing in common so how could it be that they were older brother and young sister. Yet for some reason, Naruto no longer felt like asking anymore question and went back to creating code names for the rest of the crowd.

"Oookay. I will go next and please call me [Santa]." That was Silver or now Santa who went next. He explained that his chose that name because it contained the Japanese word for 'san' which means 'three'; just like on his bracelet.

"I will be [Lotus]." The dancer said in cheerful sound, like she thought her code name complemented her the best out of the other code names. Nobody wanted to break her happy mood with her decision.

"I am going to skip myself." Naruto then said that everyone agreed on; since Hinata had said his real name, there was no need to try and hide it from a man like Zero. "Let's call you [June]." Naruto said to his childhood friend who wondered why the blonde chose that name until she finally noticed that Naruto held her left hand, showing the number six on it; she blushed when she realized that June was common girls name as well as the sixth month of the year so it worked perfectly.

Now Naruto went over the code names and numbers of the crowd. [Ace] had [1]. [Snake] had [2]. [Santa] had [3]. [Clover] has [4]. His name was skipped. [June] had [6]. [Seven] had [7]. And [Lotus] had [8]. Which left the one man who never spoke up since Zero talked to them, the one with the hair like a [bird's nest].

In fact, he was still pale and sweaty while not even saying a word. Clover walked up to him with her hands on her hips. "Hey why don't you have a code name?"

"C-code name? W-w-why?" The pale man shivered and stuttered like he was drenched in cold water or something. Clover didn't waver,

"You have a numbered bracelet do you?" The man raised his left arm to show that had a [9] on his bracelet. "So what do you want us to call you? Have you even thought up a codename yet?"

"T-that i-i-s b-because…" The man started to stutter again until he suddenly pulled a 180, with a more calm and in control type of face in an instant that somehow sent shivers down Naruto's spine; the blonde had a bad feeling what is going to happen. "Because I am not staying you all!" Sur enough, the man got bold and snuck up behind Clover. He even took out a pocket knife from somewhere and held it at Clover's neck!

"Clover!" Naruto shouted along with Snake and Santa who both responded to this change of circumstances but before they could make a step forward, the man shakily pushed the knife into Clover's neck; this pale man was serious about this to have Clover as a hostage.

"D-don't move or I will c-cut her throat open!" The man threatened the crowd and they didn't move a muscle as the pale man dragged Clover to the door with the number [5] and stopped in front of the device to the left. "O-okay…I will let her go if she will place her left hand on the device and let it scan her bracelet." The pale man demanded but Clover hesitated for a moment before seeing that Naruto was also hesitating but with a confident expression that the man will stay to his word and everyone will be just fine.

So Clover nervously placed her hand with the bracelet on the wrist on the scanner that caused an asterisk to show in the box above. Naruto remembered that Zero told everyone that only [3-5] people can enter one of the numbered doors. "N-now will the man with the number [1] bracelet please come over here slowly and scan his hand on the panel?" Ace barely moved which caused the pale man to grit his teeth and pushed the knife into clover's neck deeper to cause blood to seep out. "Did you h-hear me!? Do it or s-she dies!" Ace moved slowly this time and scanned his bracelet at the panel before retreating to the crowd. Then pale man release Clover to scan his hand at the panel and pulled the lever attached to it; the door opened like the mouth of a rusty metal animal with the sounds of squeaking iron. "T-thanks and I now I will be able to get out all because of your corporation!" The pale man tossed Clover aside before entering the doorway before turning and waving at the crowd. "T-thanks for all your help. I am going on ahead, see you later!" Then the doors closed on him and silence reigned until Naruto finally found the strength to move onto Clover who was still on the ground, shaking in fear.

"It is okay Clover. The bad man is gone, he can't hurt you again." Naruto always had the desire to help others and including little children ever since he was a troubled orphan before meeting Hinata and after she left his life. Clover just stuck onto Naruto, still scared and needed someone to hold on too. Snake smiled and took his sister from Naruto,

"Are you not hurt too much Clover?" Snake asked like a worried older brother he is and Clover shook her head. But the moment between these siblings were the loud beeping from something behind Door [5] and the words that followed after.

"Help! Let me out of here! This wasn't supposed to happen!" Everyone listened in horror as they could even see the scared and desperate [ninth man], banging on the steel doors that won't budge. "Hey guys please open the door! I am sorry of what I have done, just open the door!" Naruto tried to scan his hand at the panel but instead of 'VACANT' like before, it said 'ENGAGED'. No matter how many times Naruto tried, the panel won't respond to his hand.

"Listen guys! He lied to me! He said this won't happen! He is a liar and he is going to kill you all! It was him who lied to me! It was he who killed me! NOOO! GARRGH!" Everyone kept listening and the ninth man screamed and ranted until his voice grew silent with that yell of pain echoing through their heads along with the muffled explosion that shook the very door.

Time slowed down for Naruto again as everyone tried to make sense of the Ninth Man's last words and what happened to him on the other side of door [5]. Naruto looked again at the device near the door that said 'VACANT' once more; that meant they can open the door again but no one could even imagine what was on the other side.

Naruto still wanted to know and it was better than just wasting around not knowing like he felt ever since he first awoke here. The blonde didn't want anyone else to start so he scanned himself at the panel and turned to the crowd for two more people; since he was five and the digital root for this door has to be [5], he need a pair whose numbers total into [9]. Clover was still shaken from the experience so she was out of the question and Naruto didn't want that to happen to June so he counted her out too. Finally he made his choice,

"Hey Snake, Seven." Naruto spoke in a medium soft tone hoping they will hear him. "I need your help over here." They seemed to want to know too so they came without a hitch and scanned their hands at the panel. "Now is everyone ready? I am going to pull the lever." The crowd braced and nodded including Snake and Seven so Naruto used all his remaining might to push down the lever which opened the door…and unleashed a new horror among their eyes.

The stench that was the first to go through the open door was filled with the foul odor of brunt flesh and blood. That match with what was on the other side; a mess of blood and flesh chunks that scattered around the door way and on the door. It was enough to make the girls shriek in horror but Naruto noticed that June had a fever and was about to faint. He moved like a bullet to catch her before June landed on the ground. "Are you okay June? You are burning up!" Naruto started to panic until he dragged June to one of the chairs nearby in order for her to sit in and try to take all this in; she just started to cry that a man died and they had to see all that in its worst. To end all this, the doors closed and the scanner panel turned from 'ENGAGED' to 'VACANT' all over again.

Still, the sight of the formally ninth man repeated in the minds of the eight strangers left of the count. All that blood giving the ways a poor paint job as the bones were bent in a weird way and the chunks of skin and muscle strained the floor. No one moved or said a word until Santa finally got the gut to say this for everyone to hear,

"The ninth man. He…blew up." Everyone soon felt dizzy themselves and reached for their stomachs for some reason, like there is something in there that threatened their lives like a bomb. One thing is for sure, Zero doesn't give mercy for those who try to break the rules.

 ***Hi everyone! This is MircThomas19 here with another chapter for this new crossover. I am sad to say that it wasn't doing so well with the public like my other stories. No one wants a fanfic that is also a walkthrough for a puzzle game I guess. So I will just work on it until I am finished with the story. By then, no one will want to see it again.**

 **I feel really bad now since for the first time in a while that I forgot about a college entry that is needed by midnight of every Wednesday. I am really soft since I worry about such stupid things like that and everyone will just gave me the cold shoulder, calling me careless and forgetful. I wish to just forget about this one and enjoy the rest of my week until my next class lecture on Monday of next week.**

 **Now enough of that stuff, I am trying my best to make this the best I can since I have taken crossovers with games but only with the game characters in a manga setting or a self-made one; in short, this is the first time I did a fanfic on an actual game setting, like taking a game made by the companies and alter it to fit the crossover. I guess that I have stepped out of my comfort zone and not made a good first impression.**

 **Please tell me if I am altering the events of the game in this crossover. Just remember that if I didn't, it won't be much of a story if the only difference is the cast of characters. Naruto will never be like Junpei and this story will show the main character will a more defined character to better combine the two characters from both a manga series and a game together; Naruto's boldness and willing to take charge with Junpei's intellect.**

 **Please let me know what you think and I will try harder to get better at this chapters. Have a nice day!***


	3. The Two Doors

999

The Two Doors

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or 999.**

 _Previously on 999: 9 Shinobi Behind 9 Doors with 9 Hours,_

 _The stench that was the first to go through the open door was filled with the foul odor of brunt flesh and blood. That match with what was on the other side; a mess of blood and flesh chunks that scattered around the door way and on the door. It was enough to make the girls shriek in horror but Naruto noticed that June had a fever and was about to faint. He moved like a bullet to catch her before June landed on the ground. "Are you okay June? You are burning up!" Naruto started to panic until he dragged June to one of the chairs nearby in order for her to sit in and try to take all this in; she just started to cry that a man died and they had to see all that in its worst. To end all this, the doors closed and the scanner panel turned from 'ENGAGED' to 'VACANT' all over again._

 _Still, the sight of the formally ninth man repeated in the minds of the eight strangers left of the count. All that blood giving the ways a poor paint job as the bones were bent in a weird way and the chunks of skin and muscle strained the floor. No one moved or said a word until Santa finally got the gut to say this for everyone to hear,_

" _The ninth man. He…blew up." Everyone soon felt dizzy themselves and reached for their stomachs for some reason, like there is something in there that threatened their lives like a bomb. One thing is for sure, Zero doesn't give mercy for those who try to break the rules._

Naruto could only feel those words of Santa echo through his head as he too sat in a chair while trying to help June take in all this. That when he noticed something out of place, Snake who is blind and can't see the horror but still wasn't acting surprised about all this. After June let Naruto stand up, the blond matched over to the blind prince. "Tell us what you know about this Snake. This is not the time to hide anything."

That got everyone's attention too and this time, it was Santa who voiced their curiosity in his own way. "Why the hell are you not telling us everything? What happened to the ninth man?" Snake just smiled like when a kid had said a rhetorical question that doesn't even need to be answered by his own word.

"Zero already told us why but do you remember what he said about opening the door with [3-5] people?" Snake said it calmly but before Santa or anyone else could responded, Naruto did.

"He said that all who opened the door must enter the door." Snake smiled and nodded at Naruto's words.

"Correct Naruto. A gold star to you. Zero was seriously about his rules and the ninth man broke them by entering the door on his own and without Ace or Clover who helped him open the [5] door."

Seven still wasn't happy about all this. "That is great and all but there was something wrong about all this." Naruto nodded,

"Yeah, I never tried this game before and I thought you all didn't either." Now that set the room into silence. Only Lotus, Clover and Naruto himself didn't seem to act like the others who will avoid their glaze or shift their feet on the room; they were hiding something for sure and Naruto couldn't take it anymore. Not until the blonde saw something sticking out of Snake's pocket. Feeling the excitement of uncovering something, Naruto dashed and snatched the note from Snake and looked at it; despite shocking everyone and being disappointed in what he found, Naruto smiled and handed it over to Snake. "It was given to you and now will be a good time to read it."

Snake smiled too and after deducing that everyone else is listening, he showed the note to be covered in dots of seemingly random patterns; no one could read them but they recognized the language, it was braille. The written language of the blind. "I found it in a pocket and read it before meeting up with any of you. I dare say that this note has the last piece of info we need to know in order to escape." Suddenly, everyone crowded around Snake, hoping to hear what the braille note has to say about this game.

"What does it say!?" Santa was only a few inches from grabbing Snake and shake the answers from the blind prince. Snake sighed, "Now clam down. You don't need to force me to read. I intend to read it." Everyone swallowed their voices and waited for Snake to read and rubbed his hands on the little bumps that make of the note.

XXXXX

Bracelet number (2)…

Since you were not blessed with sight I will bless you—and only you—with information. I shall tell you the function of the RED, of the DEAD, and of the bracelet.

The [RED] is the **Recognition Device**. It will verify your number. Beside every numbered door, you will find a RED.

The [DEAD] is the **Deactivation Device**. It does exactly what it says. Once you have passed through the numbered door, you must use the DEAD to stop the [detonator] in your bracelet.

But perhaps you are wondering…what does the detonator detonate? I am afraid this may be something of a surprise. I have placed a [small bomb] inside of you, and the people whom you are about to meet.

You swallowed it while you were unconscious. I have no doubt that by the time you read this note, the bomb will have passed your stomach and found its way to your intestine. In other words, you will not be able to regurgitate it. I suggest you do not try.

As I mentioned before, the bracelet on your left hand contains a detonator. Think of it as a remote fuse, or [timer], for the bomb in your body. There is only 1 condition that will cause it to detonate. That condition is that you enter a numbered door. Once you have done so, the timer will activate, no matter who you may be. You will [81] seconds. If, after that time, the detonator has not been deactivated, it will send a signal to the bomb in your body, instructing it to explode.

In order to deactivate the detonator, [every person who verified their number at the RED] must also verify their numbers at the DEAD. Once all the numbers have been verified by the DEAD, you need only pull the lever at its side, and the countdown will cease and the persons' lives will be spared. Anyone who does not verify their number at the RED will find themselves unable to verify their number at the DEAD. That is to say, if you should pass through a numbered door without first verifying your number at the RED, in 81 seconds you will be dead.

You must also keep in mind that the numbered doors will close automatically after [9 seconds] have passed. So as long as the door is open, the DEAD will not function. You would do well to remember this.

Lastly, let us discuss [how to remove the bracelets]. There are only two ways to do so. One: You escape this ship. Two: your heart rate reaches zero. In other ways, once the bracelet is taken outside the confines of the ship, or detects that its wearer's heartbeat has fallen to zero, it will shut down automatically. There is no other way to remove your bracelet. If you attempt to force it off, or disable the detonator, the bomb with in you will immediately explode.

This is all the information which I impart to you. How you choose to use it is for you to decide. If used wisely, you can eliminate all those who might be a danger to you. For a time, you would be able to control your fate. I wish you the best of luck.

XXXXX

Everyone decided that the note made perfect sense but now will time to decide who is going through which door in order to progress. "I will like go through door [5]. I am blind so that blood bath of a man won't bother me."

Clover made one thing clear when she heard her brother say that. "No way am I going without you brother! I am going through door [5] too!"

Ace wanted to settle this by saying, "Very well. Seven and I will go along." Naruto did the math in his head; 1 + 2 + 4 + 7 = 14 1 + 4 = 5. So it worked and Clover jumped for joy when she heard that she will be with her brother and of course thanking Ace for making it happen.

Now with Naruto, June, Santa and Lotus left the numbers went like this; 3 + 5 + 6 + 8 = 22 2 + 2 = 4. Naruto can safely go through Door [4] with Hinata at his side. "I really don't want to leave her after reuniting so I will go with the others through Door [4]." No one protested or complained so the plan was set into motion; Ace, Snake, Clover and Seven will go first through Door [5] and then Naruto, June, Santa and Lotus will go through Door [4] after them.

The first group arrived at Door [5] and after they registered at the scanner, Snake pulled the lever that opened the door letting out the fool smell once more but Snake went on. He then passed after going through the door, "Hurry up or do you want me to die? Remember that the doors lose after nine seconds." The rest of Snake's group hurried through the doorway as it closed behind them.

The others rested their ears on the door to hear the same beeping as with the ninth man. Then voices were to be heard among the haunted beeping. "Our bracelets! What the hell is this!? Hurry! Let's find the DEAD!" "Is that it over there!?" "It must be! Hurry!" Naruto and the gang soon waited with baited breath as the voices died down but also the beeping was soon to halt as well.

They then heard the sounds of a sigh of relief. "Well? Did you do it!?" Naruto yelled hoping his voice made it through the thick metal doors.

"Yeah! We managed to cause the detonators to stop!" They sighed in relief when they heard Clover tell them that through the iron doors. "Just look for a device in the same shape as the RED, it is just in blue!"

"Okay! Thank you and good luck!" Naruto yelled as he got to door [4] with his group behind him. They all verified their numbers at the RED and Naruto looked back at them with his hand on the lever. "Ready?" They all nodded and Naruto opened the door. "GO!" Naruto and his group charged to beat the door before it will close on them. When they did, the two doors shut completely behind them and then the familiar beeping started to hit their ears. They looked down on their bracelets to see that the numbers were replaced with a digital skull image; no doubt the sign of the detonator counting down to set he bomb off.

"Come one! Where is the hell is the DEAD!?" Santa yelled and the group looked at the hallway to be filled with rooms! "Dammit! Don't tell me that the DEAD Is in one of those rooms!"

"NO! We don't have the time to search every single one!" Lotus panicked until Naruto looked at the end of the hallway and saw something that caught his eye.

"Follow me!" Naruto charge down the long hall with his scared and desperate group chasing after him only to see a device similar to the Red indeed and also in the color blue. They raced to place their hands on the device and Santa pulled the lever when they were done, the beeping stopped and the bracelets once again showed their individual numbers.

Naruto and his team collapsed with the walls as their only support to catch their breath as they were barely a minute from death by internal bombing or any other way of saying that. They all tried to calm down and breathe normally again, they had to run for their lives for goodness sake. Once they finally did, they got a good look at the double door near the DEAD, they were fancy and this time had a keyhole with the male symbol in the shape of a circle that had an arrow point in the north east direction.

"Is this?" Naruto was about to say until June giggled and answered for him,

"That is the astronomical symbol for [Mars], brother planet to [Earth]." June surprised everyone by knowing about the symbols for the planet when she explained that the keyhole back in the ball room with the two numbered doors had the symbol for Earth based on the spherical shape with the two lines on it; she also described the symbol on key reader as well to be of [Saturn].

Still, without a key, the doors will never open. Thankfully, there were still options to choose from; there were two doors opposite to each and were also near the DEAD and the double doors at the end. After being used to locked doors, Naruto and the others actually wanted to try opening them. To their surprised, both of the doors yielded to their efforts rather easily.

"Okay Santa, you and lotus check the room you are in. June and I will check this one. I will also trade rooms to see if we can find the key to get out!" Naruto addressed the situation and everyone nodded. Now, with these rooms that look upper class quarters, it is time just like in the bottom deck cell room; seek a way out!

XXXXX

Naruto first got a glimpse of the living room, with a trophy case that was empty and a couch was stuff in one of the opposite corners with a table that had nothing but a full box of matches on it. Naruto took it because who knows when matches were going to prove to be useful. But as soon as he pocketed the match box, Naruto realized something and went back to June.

"Hey June. Is your fever any better?" June smiled and answered,

"Why yes I am. I feel much better now." Naruto can tell because June sure looked fine. But Naruto placed his hands on her forehead to see for himself. Her skin felt neither cold nor hot which meant that Naruto had nothing to worry about. "Are you worried about me?"

"Of course I am June." Naruto answered without much hesitation. "You were my best friend until you had to move away. I was about to live my life without seeing you again. I am not letting you out of my sight or my life any time soon."

June started to blush brightly, "Thank you Naruto. I wanted to see you for quite the time myself but I wished that the circumstances were better." Naruto could only chuckle and notice how cute June seemed to be with the red blush marks on her cheeks. Until of course she turned a lot more serious, "By the way, Naru-chan…"

"Yeah?"

"How did you end up here?" Naruto couldn't believe that it was June of all people who is asking that question.

"I thought I have told you, I was kidnapped from the apartment I rented out for my college life. This Zero got into my room and gassed me into unconsciousness. I then woke up on the 'D Deck'." Naruto tried to tell the story again and June nodded the whole way before getting to the point.

"That is what you said but is it true?" Naruto couldn't believe what June is trying to say; like his memories of what happened before waking up here were untrue? "Are you hiding something from me?"

"You idiot!" June flinched at that tone, "I thought you were still my friend but now you don't trust half that much as years ago!? I have nothing to do with this game bullshit unlike you!" June started to cry which made Naruto sign in frustration, "What I am saying is that I have told you everything and I am just a normal college student and you who disappeared years ago had been here this whole time?"

"NO! This is the first time I have been here!" June shouted but Naruto had dealt with liars before, June had that look in her eye. She knows she is lying and her eyes are uneasy as a result. This skill helped Naruto escape the words of scammers and otherwise all liars who tried to torment him after his parents died. But before Naruto could say anything else, June just went somewhere else to cool down; she must have felt guilty after accusing her best friend of keeping secrets from her when she was doing herself.

Soon enough June saw that Naruto was looking an abstract picture of seemingly random blots in random places. But it seemed that Naruto was able to see what the picture was so June just told him that she felt better enough to keep looking. Naruto agreed and they tried out the bedroom next and found a bed that can't be found in most stores; it had the mattress and pillows as well as clovers but it had railings too, to keep the passengers from falling off the bed when the ship rocked.

"It is big enough for two and even has two pillows on the mattress." Naruto said until he noticed that June was starting at the bed with redness on her cheeks. Naruto then smirked, he was a college student by day but a prankster king by night; and his latest prank was to lift June into his arms and lay her into the double bed like his one year daughter at sleeping time.

"EEK! What are you doing!?" June was a little scared by this but she then noticed that Naruto was getting into the bed with her!

"You got your fever back so I had to let you lie in this bed until you get better but I couldn't leave you all lonely in here. Can't I?" Naruto spoke in his prankster tone that made June blush full face this time and feeling like she was tricked into being in bed with Naruto; that was her fantasies not long ago.

Fifteen minutes or so later, Naruto decided not to waste any more time left but he did enjoy sleeping with June in bed; she was like a kid's favorite stuffed animal, comfortable and barely even moving to hit in the wrong places. When Jun recovered from a near brain overload, Naruto uncovered a map of the 'B Deck' in the room and a key that seemed to be the wrong one to use on the doors outside.

"Can you stay here as I check out the other room?" Naruto asked of June who was surprised to be asked of such a thing before blushing again.

"Sure leave it to me." June said with the tone of being praised and counted on. When Naruto reached the other room, Lotus and Santa were still looking. Naruto had found a candlestick complete with a fresh candle and a dark bedroom would you know? Once Naruto had lit the candle with the matches, he saw that the bed had a folded curtain on the sheets.

Even though the candle went out, Naruto had found a hidden key in where the candle goes. He even used the key from the bedroom in June's room to open the drawer of this bedroom and found a square block with abstract art on it. Naruto then looked at the hidden key in the candlestick and wondered what it was ill unlock once he got out of the dark bedroom. It turned out that the candlestick key opened the trophy box that was filled with art compared to the one he left June in. Inside was another block of abstract art like one in the dark bedroom.

"It will seem that [9] is Zero's favorite number." Lotus's voice had broken Naruto's thoughts and even got Santa's attention.

"What was your first clue?" Naruto sighed at how uncouth Santa always prove to be. Lotus didn't seem to be angry at Santa's rudeness.

"Nine strangers, nine doors to go through, nine hours to escape and the [Nonary Game]." Naruto had a good idea to Lotus's direction in this conversation. Santa, not so much.

"So? We all know that because we had to listen to that motherfucking voice of that bastard Zero!" Somehow, Santa saw that Naruto glared at him for acting out of hand around a woman and that boy with the silver hair remained silent. The woman smiled at Naruto, respectful for woman but not afraid to take charge even against his own girlfriend.

"Thank you Naruto and I will explain my point. The theme of this game is the number nine, even in the title of the game has nine in it." Lotus explained. "The "nona" in [Nonary Game] is a Latin prefix like "uni" means [1] in unicorn, or "bi" means [2] in binary, or "tri" means [3] in triple."

"So "nona" means nine right?" Naruto took to it like a student to a professor's lecture and Lotus nodded. "I get it and think that we are bond to find more [9] related stuff as we get deeper into the game."

While Santa and Lotus though hard on what he said, Naruto wanted to check something out and saw that the same painting as the first room had only one fourth of it left. That meant that Naruto will have the find one more of the tiles in order to complete the painting. But first, he wanted to know why there was a shower curtain in the double bed.

After handing it up, he saw that there was a hole in the curtain at a certain point, like he was supposed to see through this hole and see something important. It turned out to be a title fifth from the bottom and the third from the right but there was nothing about that title in this bathroom. Naruto thought it was for the bathroom in the other passenger's quarters so he went over to check it out when,

"Naruto." The blonde turned to see Santa looking at him while he was still in the doorway. "Can I talk to you?" Without giving him time to start, Santa gave something to Naruto. "Please take this." Naruto gave a closer a look to see that it was bookmark with the image of a [four leaf clover].

"Why give it to me? If you found it, it should belong to you and give you good luck." Naruto said in confusion but Santa sure didn't appreciate the blonde's words as he shivered like he was in the cold of an evening winter's night.

"Please just take it. They never gave me good luck in my whole life but do you know that the four leaves do more than that?" Naruto didn't know what to make of it and just shrugged. "They stand for the four things I hate most in the whole world: **Hope** , **Faith** , **Love** and **Luck**." Naruto was shocked to hear that Santa had a life where he will admit to hating all those positive emotions and concepts. "So can you just keep that fucking thing the hell away from me? I had to find it between some of the cushions in this room; I don't even know why I brought other for the heck of it. I hate those things so please keep the dam thing already!"

"Okay! Okay I will keep it!" Naruto shouted in order to calm Santa down and hurried to June's room; the girl didn't know why the blonde was in such a hurry. She just followed him until something had caused them to be in the room area of the bathroom with the curtain closed; it was a very awkward moment, they just imagined themselves using a shower together like a married couple.

Still, Naruto was able to remember the title to try out and same with the bathroom with the curtain with the hole, it was lose and the remaining abstract art title was found. Naruto went back to the other room and rearranged the painting to be a copy of the one from the first room. That caused the painting to extend and lower to reveal a hidden compartment where a key that had the mercury symbol on the handle. That was the one to use to get out!

Now with the key in hand, Naruto was about to run and find June and tell the good news but Lotus hold him back. "Sorry Naruto it is just…what do you see in this painting?" Naruto answered that it was dog when you separate the white blots from the black and point out the legs, tail and feet. "I asked is because I think I saw this picture before."

Naruto and Santa gasped at that. It could mean something and they were hell not going to let this chance drop out of their grasp. "Where?" Naruto said in a soft requesting tone, beating the usual foul mouth and blunt Santa to it.

"In a book." Lotus said simply. "There is a biochemist named [Sheldrake]. He has a rather interesting theory. I saw this picture in his book." Naruto's curiosity was growing like weeds in fertile soil.

"What is this interesting theory?" Naruto asked for more details out of Lotus and he had no idea what the answer could have in store for him, his group or anyone else in this entire game.

"[Morphogenetic Field], which relies on the theory of [morphic resonance]…" Lotus was interrupted by Santa who had enough of listening and not talking.

"Arrgh. Just stop this, it is giving me a headache. OWW!" Santa got his own bump on the head, courteous of Naruto who was steaming in his ears.

"That is giving you a headache Santa and if you keep interrupting, I will have the headache. Now shut up and stay that way so Lotus can try to explain it better." Naruto got the response he wanted: Santa cowering with the bump fresh on his scalp while Lotus smiled and continued.

"Thank you Naruto. It is not a difficult concept to grasp. In essence, he states that the "shapes of living organisms and their behavioral patterns are transmitted through a field not visible to the naked eye"." Lotus went into detail; Santa still was confused but Naruto was actually thinking of proofreading those words into something that was sure to be more understandable.

"So you are saying that there is a field that we can't see but if we can tap into it, we can send information to other living beings with the field?" Lotus smiled and nodded, "Is that the whole thing?"

Lotus shook her head, "No there is another way to look at it. There is the **Theory of the Telepathic Mechanism**." Naruto nodded and urged her to go on with,

"Telepathy? Like in those science fiction novels about the ability to protect your thoughts into the minds of others and read their minds?" Lotus seemed to be in glee that she had the best listener in her life or something.

"Yes, telepathy." Then Lotus got into a more thinking hard posture. "Well, perhaps not exactly telepathy, but it is close enough, for a simple approximation." Naruto took this for consideration which could be said better when Santa finally recovered from his nasty bump on the head.

"Hahaha! Do you think we are as stupid as kids from the 70s? I can't believe that someone like you will take all this seriously! OWW DAMMIT!" Santa seemed to not notice Naruto's expression of impatience and intolerance for all this and now the silver haired boy had two bumps on his head in single file or something.

"And just what type of someone do you take Lotus for? She is having a breakthrough that might just help explain the meaning of this game." Despite having his group look at him like he had gone mad, Naruto never faltered and just urged Lotus to continue once again.

"Yes, anyways I agree with that." Lotus started with Santa wondering why Naruto still hit him on the head twice as hard as before. "I read the book, but I can hardly say I understood it. I'm am in no position to defend or condemn anything it said. It was probably just someone latching on to a statistical out-lier from some study and turning it into a ridiculous theory. There is no scientific merit to any of it, I'm sure."

"Wow Lotus, I thought you weren't the type to give up just like that. It is like you are saying that reading novels are a waste of time only because they are not based on what actually happened. What happened to telling your kids bedtime stories knowing they were just made up?" Naruto took a huge downhill dive for all this and surprised Lotus,

"Even so…I…" Then the busty dancer woman trialed off and didn't say another word and neither than the two boys in the same room until, "Anyway, I saw a picture like this one in his book." Then Lotus asked what the painting was about and Naruto answered in the way to June back in her room.

Speaking of which, the woman and silver haired boy were shocked and impressed respectably. Lotus couldn't believe it, "How did you know? You are correct. I didn't think that you would have been able to guess that." Seeing that Naruto and Santa wanted an explanation to her shock, she went on to do so.

"A TV show in Great Britain did an experiment once. They took two similar photos. Both of them were difficult to identify, initially… But once you'd figured out the answer, you couldn't see it as anything else. The first one was a **woman wearing a hat**. The other one…well, to make it easier… …Let's just say it was this **picture of a dog**." Naruto and Santa nodded, "So. Their experiment…" Lotus took in a huge breath and began sharing the details.

"First, they sent the pictures to other parts of the world where British radio and television couldn't reach. To Ireland, the U.S., Africa, Europe, etc. Then, in each country, they gathered a number of test subjects. All in all, there were roughly 1,000 people. Those 1,000 people were shown the 2 pictures, and asked "What does this picture look like to you?" The results, in and of themselves, were not terribly interesting… [9.2%] of the people saw the **lady** in the **lady picture**. [3.9%] of the people saw the **dog** in the **dog picture**."

"Then, 2 days later…They broadcast a new show. During the 30 minute show, they broadcast the **dog picture** , and its solution. The audience was estimated to be 200,000 people. After the broadcast, it could be assumed that the number of people who knew solution to the **dog picture** now totaled 200,000 people."

"After 2 days had passed, they gathered a number of research subjects from areas where British TV and radio did not exist. This time, they were only able to find a sample of roughly 850 people. Naturally, none of them were people who had participated in the 1st test. They were, however, given the same test, and the same 2 pictures. The results…were shocking. [10%] of the people saw the **lady** in the **lady picture**. The previous test yielded had a [9.2%] success rate—the charge was not statistically significant. The **dog picture** , however, had produced a very different result. The percentage of people able to successfully find the **dog** grew from [3.9%] to [6.8%]. A very significant change."

Lotus finished with, "So, do you understand? Do you realize the significance of this experiment?" Santa was still confused but Naruto had a good idea for this,

"That somehow, after the first test, more people was able to get the right answer even though they never took the first test or even learned of the solution from the participants of the first test?" That was length for sure but Lotus nodded.

"That was seen as a sign that there was a morphogenetic field that in which emotions, knowledge and insight can traverse from people's mind in different locations altogether. If you still don't believe it then fine, let's just get out of here." Lotus said, leaving the two boys in the room while Naruto went after her to get June. Santa stayed behind a little longer, he seemed to be thinking hard on it.

'Maybe that is why they were kidnapped? To tap in this field? Than why the hell did anyone want to…?' Santa finished muttering and left the room after getting one last look at the abstract painting of the dog.

XXXXX

Finally, Naruto had told June they could get out and she soon joined Santa and Lotus in front of the double doors, heled together by a keyhole with the mercury symbol on top. He looked at everyone and gave a reassuring nod as if to say that whatever is on the other side of this door will never take them down. Naruto placed in the key inside and turned it to unlock the double doors.

Entering, they saw a hallway that was divided into two by a steel gate that had openings too thin for them to fit through. "How are we going to get on the other side of this dam gate?" Santa complained until he noticed his companions seemingly looking into a direction of the opposite wall to the door they just left from; it had a door and another on the other side of the gate. "Do you think that we will have to go into that room and out the other door?"

His companions gave the silver hair boy with an expression that said 'what do you think?' Naruto just approached the door in question and opened it rather easily so when he peered into the room, everyone gasped in surprise. Inside was what they never imagined in their lives.

 ***Hello everyone! Here is another chapter for your pleasure and I still have a lot more to make if I was going to finish this story. But since it is based on a game storyline, it can be done under record time since all I need to change is the characters and some of the dialogue since I changed their personality to compliment the characters from the Naruto manga series.**

 **Also, I am evil to leave it off with a cliffhanger like that one but I had to limit my chapters so it will be easier to read. Long chapters are just dandy but if the readers get lost in all that detail, then the story isn't as entertaining anymore. Remember that fellow writers and good luck with your own work.**

 **I know that my story isn't doing any good but if you don't want to play the game after reading this story, then go find other games because they are plenty of puzzles out there just waiting for you to solve them. Just remember that I am not making this a walkthrough because I am not just that good to include all the puzzles in this fanfic. Have a nice day and keep your hard and loyal work!***


	4. Reunion Among Confusion And Suspicion

999

Reunion Among Confusion And Suspicion

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or 999.**

 _Previously on 999: 9 Shinobi Behind 9 Doors with 9 Hours,_

 _Entering, they saw a hallway that was divided into two by a steel gate that had openings too thin for them to fit through. "How are we going to get on the other side of this dam gate?" Santa complained until he noticed his companions seemingly looking into a direction of the opposite wall to the door they just left from; it had a door and another on the other side of the gate. "Do you think that we will have to go into that room and out the other door?"_

 _His companions gave the silver hair boy with an expression that said 'what do you think?' Naruto just approached the door in question and opened it rather easily so when he peered into the room, everyone gasped in surprise. Inside was what they never imagined in their lives._

When the group entered through the door, they instantly recognized what type it a room it was. It was large, not as much as the ballroom with the main stairway but was definitely as big as those passenger rooms combined. There were plenty of tables that were covered in stuff that can only be found in a,

"This is a kitchen." Santa said clear to the point. "Not that I am surprised. What's worse, that I am not even hungry." Everyone could agree to that as they must have lost their appetite somewhere when they saw the aftermath of the Ninth Man. Still, they needed to find the door that will get them on the other side of the gate if they want to continue. They found it and also see that it is to be locked; by a key reader.

"Looks like we need to find the key in this room." June said and Naruto nodded before taking out the map from the bedrooms. He just realized something important and given the shocked looks of Santa and Lotus had reminded him.

"W-wait!"

"What is that!?"

"Oops." Naruto uttered while scratching the back of his head, "I guess I forgot to tell you that June and I had found this map in one of the…" Lotus had snatched the map before Naruto could answer. She traced her finger and then spoke,

"Yes. According to this map, this kitchen does lead to the other side of the gate and ends at this stairway. Probably leading to the 'C Deck'." Everyone looked and saw it too until Naruto pointed out something that he never got the chance to notice since he didn't spend that much time on the map.

"Look here guys." Naruto pointed to the hallway that lead to the other side of the gate. "That hallway leads from Door [5] and goes to the same stairway. It will seem that Zero had tricked us momentary into thinking that the doors don't lead to the same place." When his group heard that, they could only nod; it wasn't anything worth hiding the shame of falling for such a trick. "Okay. Let's begin by searching for a key card that will lead us out of here." Like a leader, Naruto got everyone's hopes up and they started to spit up to do such a thing. Now was another encounter with a locked room with the famous objective: seek a way out!

XXXXX

There first thing Naruto did when he started looking was to see something about the table in front of him. There were stacks with different amounts to them, Naruto checked them out. "Look Lotus. These plates must be what the waiters place the prepared food on."

The woman smiled and nodded, "Yes there are, the one over there." Lotus pointed to the pile to their far left, "Are for the appetizers, something light enough to keep those customers on waiting for the rest of the food. Like this pile has the soup plates." Naruto could see why they were named that; they were like the plates but the indentation was deeper, to keep the soup from falling off the plate. Lotus called the other two to be the meat dish and seafood dish until Naruto noticed something to the far left of them all, it was a voucher or a piece of paper to tell the chiefs what the customers will like to eat.

Yet it made no sense. It said "Appetizer 9, Meat dish 10, Soup A, Seafood dish F." There were nine appetizer plates but the soup dish pile had ten, the seafood dish pile had 15 and the meat dish had more like sixteen. That was curious indeed but just staring at the counter wasn't going to get Naruto or anyone anywhere fast so they decided to take it to bed. When they found a sink, it was filled with water that had plates inside. Santa said that the plates in there weren't going to help but then Naruto found a whetstone; stones used for sharping the rusted and dulled in a kitchen, that will be useful somewhere.

The next stop was a door on the other side of the one the group just went through; it turned out to be a pantry, where food is stored until being used for the dishes made for the customers. Looking through the shelves, Naruto found a bottle of cooking oil and decided to take it along. He also found a rusted knife in a box so when Naruto was about to use the whetstone to fix it, June spoke up.

"That knife. It is **futile**." June wasn't scared, calm or even having her fever but instead was serious. She knew what she was thinking and wanted to keep doing it. Naruto wanted in on the answers as well.

"What brought this up?" June smiled and answered,

"The book which was named **Futility**." Naruto knew what she was talking about so he wanted to hear the rest from her. "After all, it has something to do with the Titanic. Whatever or not this is a copy." Naruto and June never brought up that they had a serious conversation on what ship they were in; it was similar to the Titanic but since the ship is at the bottom of the sea, it must be a similar ship or a replica of the doomed cruise linear. "Have you ever heard of the story that the sinking of the Titanic was predicted?"

"Oh yeah I do." Naruto had a smile that both brought hope to June's face but soon dashed all that faith in his next sentence, "I heard about how it all was a fraud." June was shocked so Naruto decided to spare her of the suspense, "I heard that the author who heard of the titanic sinking realized that since his novel was about such a doomed ship, he decided to claim he saw it by changing things in his novel to match that of the real ship. He nearly fooled everyone but when the original copy was compared to the new version of the story that was supposed to be proof that he saw it coming, the author was found to be a fraud and what happened to him was not pretty." June was now looking down on her feet, she must have believed the author and to find out it was all just a big hoax, it must be shocking to her but…

"But that wasn't the first time it happened! There were two other stories made about the sinking of the Titanic before it even happened!" Naruto couldn't help but smirk at how bold June was in order to defend her idol or something. "They couldn't have been faked! They were never updated after the actual sinking of the Titanic!"

Naruto said nothing and waited for June to catch her breath. Then, "That is okay. I firmly believe that having no faith in anything is just the same of giving up. After all, if we don't believe in what life can offer than how are we supposed to enjoy it?" June was wondering where this was going for a change. "Anyway, can you explain that the stories were actually written by human hands if they were actually predicting the future? Was he like an alien?"

"NO!" Naruto was alarmed at that outburst. "The author was not an alien! I believe that he did this because he had supernatural powers. I think that he was capable of **automatic writing**." That threw Naruto for a while.

"Automatic writing? So you are saying that the author wrote the book because someone else had used his hands to do all of it?" June nodded and waited for Naruto's opinion on all this; he might reject it all including her but, "To be honest, this has been one hectic day so I will try anything to make sense of it. Just, when we get out, if you need someone to back you up when others bully you for believing, you can always count on me to do the job." With that said, Naruto left June blushing and smiling; her best friend may have grown but somethings will never change and that is a blessing for sure.

After all that from the pantry, Naruto saw that there was another door that was bolted with a rusty lock; but with cooking oil, Naruto should do the trick. "Hey! What are you doing?" Santa demanded while Naruto ignored him in order to apply the cooking oil to get the door unlocked. After some elbow grease, the blond was able to move the bolt to unlock the door. But his surprise came when the door was open.

The room unleashed killer frost temperatures that immediately caused Naruto to fold his arms and shiver in it. The room could only be one thing, "Looks like we finally found the freezer." It was where food goods that demanded to be preserved was stored like the rest of the food in pantry; waiting to be used by the cooks in the kitchen.

"W-whoa." Santa shook like a deer just born which wasn't surprising given the nature of the room. Lotus never once took a step close.

"Sorry guys but I was never able to take the cold very good. Just find what you can and get out of that room." No one stopped here since she had the clothes of a dancer from like the Arabian nights that took place in a desert for goodness sake!

But when they tried to get closer and look around, there was a loud sound coming from behind them. When they looked, the group saw to their horror. The door had been frozen solid when one of the water pipes broke loose and freezing in the cold temperatures. "Dammit! Lotus, hurry and open the door from your side!" Naruto and Santa yelled out in their panic while hearing a woman's footprints from outside.

"Fine. Let me at the door." They could hear her grunting and straining but the door didn't much as shake. "Sorry but I can't open it. Good luck in there." Naruto signed, sometimes that woman was useless.

So they hurried to see what was to be found. On the floor was a hatch that contained an empty water bottle along with some sturdy rope. With nothing else left, Santa found some frozen pork on the shelf that also had some kind of tag sticking out that was unreadable and unsafe to try and pull out; he just kept it for safe keeping. In one of the fridges, they found a bag filled with…dry ice!

"That stuff, is supposed to explode in an airtight container when applied with a force to the container?" Naruto asked and Santa nodded along with June. "If we could break it into different pieces, we can create a makeshift bomb that will get us out of here!" Naruto went back to searching the fridge and found a chicken leg frozen stiff. It was hard enough to shatter the dry ice into smaller pieces while still inside the bag.

But before Naruto could get started on making the dry ice bomb, June finally spoke up. "Carbon dioxide's sublimation point is -109 degrees. Any warmer than that, it'll turn into a gas. Andy colder, it becomes into a solid." Santa was not interested but Naruto wanted to figure out just how June keeps pulling out just the right info from seemingly nowhere. She then giggled at his expression that said it all, "You might not know this but I have a reputation as the Qleen…bleh. Ahem…the _Queen_ of Random Knowledge." Naruto stopped June in her tracks; he remembered on how she loved to play around when they were little and June was known as Hinata.

"Just tell us more about dry ice." Santa then started to speak out of his shivers,

"Yeah like why does it turn into a gas from a solid? Don't these things become a liquid first?" Now that Naruto wanted to get out of the freezer, he did find it rather odd too. June then explaining it right away.

"But it can turn into a liquid." That was just like a paradox, it makes no sense because the parts contradict each other. "Carbon dioxide turns into a liquid if you put it under high enough pressure."

"But at 1 atmosphere, normal air pressure…" Santa started, "It won't turn into a liquid, right?" Now that was very useful and answered a lot of questions. June nodded,

"That's right. Instead of melting, it'll do what's called "sublimating", and change immediately from a solid state to a gaseous one." Santa nodded too.

"See, that is weird. Water's a liquid between 32 degrees and 212 degrees…" Naruto kept silent as well as June. "So why isn't the case for carbon dioxide?" Santa brought it to the point in a tone that seemed to not be expecting answer but June replied with one that stunned them both.

"There is a kind of ice that doesn't turn into liquid when it goes above 32 degrees." Not one boy answered as they wanted more as they seemed to not hear about all this from anywhere. "I…heard of it. Its melting point is 96 degrees."

" **Ice that won't melt until it reaches room temperature**?" June nodded to Naruto's response.

"You mean there is **water that freezes at 96 degrees**?" June nodded again to Santa's query.

Naruto was still freezing to death in this godforsaken freezer but he just couldn't ignore all this so he asked another question. "What is this **ice with the melting point of 96 degrees** called?"

"I heard is called [ice-9]." Santa asked to be sure and June responded. "Originally, it was a made up substance invented by a science-fiction author." She took in a huge breath, "…But scientists have confirmed that a substance does exist." Naruto wanted to know if this 'Ice-9' is actually water or not. "You could think of it as a poly-morph of H20." June explained that it is similar to the relationship of carbon in diamonds and graphite; depending on the crystallization and layout of the atoms, the substance's nature changes. This concept also applies to H20 or the atoms of water so there can be an **ice that melts at 96 degrees**. Yet June wasn't done with her story. "Have you heard the story about the crystallization of glycerin?" No one said yes or even raise their hands so June went into detail that went like this:

"For 150 years after the discovery of glycerin, people cooled it, warmed it, and did all sorts of things too it… But whatever they did, it never crystallized. However, one day in 1920…"

"Some glycerin was en route to England by ship was discovered to have crystallized during the trip. Naturally, scientists worldwide wanted to research this new, crystallized form of glycerin, and begun asking for samples of the seed. A seed is, of course, a sample of the original crystallized substance. With a seed crystal, further crystallization of glycerin would be a simple matter. However…something very strange happened."

"Not only did the glycerin encouraged by the seed crystals begin to crystallize, nearby samples did as well. It didn't end there. After that day, all glycerin in the world began to crystallize naturally when cooled down to less than 64 degrees. Before that day, no matter how glycerin was cooled, it refused to crystallize. But once the crystallization begun…"

"It was like every single glycerin atom was communicating with each other from all around the world. …And that is it." June finished and the boys were fascinated by the story; who knew that atomic structures must have told each other what to do even miles apart? But anyway, it wasn't going to get them out of the freezer so Naruto went to work on the bomb. He carefully placed the dry ice in the water bottle and then tied the rope tightly around the bottle. That pressure was starting to act on the dry ice; the sign that the bomb is going to work. Naruto then attached the bomb to the door to get it ready to explode but they didn't think of where to hide and be safe from the debris that might be the aftermath of the explosion.

They ultimately decided on hiding under the hatch and Naruto saw some left over dry ice to throw at the bomb. Holding them with his sleeve, and ignoring the burning that still felt in his hands, Naruto picked a large chunk and landed it on the bomb after closing the hatch. The explosion could be felt and when they opened the hatch, the ice on the doorknob was gone! The bomb idea worked!

Naruto wasted no time in charging out of the freezer with Santa and June behind him. While Santa was complaining to Lotus who was sitting on the counter the whole time, Naruto took the chance and used the whetstone on the rusty knife because the blonde knew it to be clear that he will need it. Then he took out the frozen piece of pork and placed it on a light stove that wasn't of much use before the incident in the freezer.

"What are you doing? What if the piece of paper in there burns?!" Lotus was shocked at how reckless Naruto was behaving.

"Then I will keep my eye on it and used this knife to cut the paper out. Any problems?" Lotus didn't answer and Naruto went back to viewing the pork until the meat turned from frosted red to pure red which meant that the meat had successfully defrosted. Like he said he would, Naruto carefully cut open the dork and let the paper tag come out naturally. It said in ink:

C + 10 + F

"What the hell does that mean!?" Santa ranted but Naruto had a good feeling about this one; the trail never left off yet and it isn't going to stop now. Naruto went over to find an oven with a lock on the doors, keeping them closed. The lock had no key hole or key reader or scanner like the others. It was like a safe, you had to place in the right numbers to get to unlock and open or in this case, you will have to punch in the numbers by the number buttons.

Naruto stopped in front, got on his knees and stared at the note. "What is it!?" Santa was getting impatient since he was already in a bad mood as it is. Naruto just shushed him before turning on the lock. He then punched in the number (43) which had got the door open! Everyone else was shocked at what they saw as Naruto reached in and took out a security key with the Saturn symbol on.

"How did you do that!?" Lotus yelled and Naruto actually put up a calm look while he explained himself.

"I knew that the tag from the pork had the key and I remembered that the voucher and the plat piles on the counter. They go together and that is why I found them all in the same place. Put them together, you get nine for appetizers, 10 for soup that actually means A so C must be twelve, fifteen for seafood which can also be F in the same system. But for meat, it was ten for sixteen. All that matched the numbers on the tag so I did the math in my head. C = 12, F = 15 and 10 =16. 12 + 16 + 15 = 43. That is how I got that number which happened to be the right one for the lock on the oven door."

June was like a kid who saw her favorite idol and hero do his stuff. Santa was gaping like a dish fish. And Lotus? She was smiling and clapping for the splendid deduction made by the blonde. 'This boy had figured out the hexadecimal system from plates and a voucher? This kid will go far for sure. June is such a lucky girl.'

Naruto went to the locked door out of the kitchen with the key card but before he could try it on the door, "Wait!" Santa had finally recovered from his shock and halted Naruto. "That is the key for something else! How is that going to get us out of here?"

"Maybe Zero knew you will doubt that and it will work anyways, that is why I am going to keep this card after we get out unless you don't want us to leave." Naruto retorted calmly and got Santa to standby and put a little more trust in the blonde. It turned out that the key did work and the door did unlock. The way out has been uncovered and found!

XXXXX

After unlocking the door out of the kitchen and away from the freezer, it was time to decide where to go next because there could be more than the stairs. Naruto just was wondering why he had a feeling that there was something off about the stairs. Meanwhile, Lotus took out the map and laid it on the floor.

"Okay. We know have four possible ways to go." She pointed to the stairs, a hallway to the left, and two doors that were on the right of the stairs. "Both A and B are going to this L-shaped room, C will be down the hallway and D is the stairway."

So they went to see which can be used, and will you know it? Both A and B were all locked doors. And C just went to behind door [5], where the remains of the Ninth Man were. So D was their only option so they decided to take it.

They soon reached the 'C Deck' and the stairs leading to the 'D Deck' were still flooded but seemed no different from before they even entered the two doors. The doors on the ends of the two hallways to either side of the stairway were locked so they went directly away from the stairs to find the biggest double doors yet. They all opened to a vast room that was lined with wheeled beds that had thin mattresses and no sheets. At the far back were four double doors, three of them had numbers on them. The one on the far right had the number [8], the one second from the right had the number [7] and the one on the far left had the number [3].

No one was able to make out of this room, they all thought this was a luxury cruise liner from the quarters in the upper decks but this looked more like a…"Is this a hospital ship?" June asked, not feeling too excited about how things turned out and neither her group did any better. But before any of them could give their food for thought, the doors open again to show…

"Snake!" Naruto yelled in good spirit, he was right along, they were going to be reunited with the first group after all. They, of course, didn't know how it happened.

"How did you guys get here?" Seven said with clear disbelief while Clover and Ace were still in shock. Naruto was able to explain to them that the two doors were linked by showing them the map of the 'B Deck'.

"So now what? Should we go through the numbered doors?" Lotus asked but the first group shook their heads strangely,

"We tried already, the REDs don't work. We have been trying to find that last piece to each of them when we heard new footsteps and voices coming to this room so we wanted to see who it was." Ace explained in a sad, defeated tone that mirrored the rest completely. Naruto wanted to see for himself and saw that there was indeed a missing part that allowed power to enter the REDs. Even trying to verify his number did nothing.

"Maybe Zero screwed up?" Santa said in a confident, self-awarding smirk that got everyone doubtful.

"No. Zero went all this planning and now we can't move on because of a smile forgetful mistake?" Seven said until they all heard Naruto's humming rather loudly. Only June seemed to recognize it.

"Ssh." June made a silencing motion with her finger at everyone. "That is when Naru-chan gets serious about a case. He is trying to think about this." Santa and Lotus was surprised for only a little while after seeing that had got them out of the kitchen back there.

Sooner or later, Naruto opened his eyes to show what he had cooked up. "I don't think this was a mistake, I think that Zero did this on purpose." He was bombarded by protests and questions so he went on. "Think. Zero seemed to have planned all this in order to see that we can escape but if he also made sure that we don't by tampering with the game, then he will never get anything proven in the first place. Why did he halt our progress, knowing that we have no other way but to activate the RED and go through the numbered doors?" Everyone stopped to think, for someone like Zero, it was foolishness and also hypocritical since Zero had allowed them to escape and wish us luck but try to prevent them from escaping altogether. "I think that Zero wants us to split up in order to do something that we cannot know yet."

"What!" Lotus said before running into the hallways, looking in denial. "You mean that Zero wants us to search all these rooms on purpose!?"

"I will seem that Zero can control out fate from wherever he is stationed. Let's just search until we hear the chime for 10 o'clock and return to the hospital room." Naruto said firmly and went to cover some ground, one after another went to the same until they were all looking. Soon, the chime was heard across the entire 'C Deck'….6…7…8…9…10. The next one never came so it was time for Naruto to return back to base in the hospital room like he suggested.

When he did, he found everyone standing in front of the numbered doors or more specifically the RED of door [7]. Naruto wanted to find out what was the commotion about and learned something that sent shivers through his skin. "Oh Naruto. Someone had fixed the REDs and got them working again."

"So, what is the trouble?" Naruto asked until Clover answered in a tone that closely match a kid who lost their favorite stuffed bunny.

"My brother is missing."

End of Chapter 4

 ***Here is the next chapter! I am sure you all are wondering when I am going to update my other stories. It seemed that I didn't make my message in those author's notes clear. I said that I will work on it until I have finished the story given by how poorly it is doing in terms of reviews and favorites compared to my other stories. I haven't had this in a long time so I need to adjust to it.**

 **I am still trying to juggle my school work and after six weeks, I need to find something else to do for the rest of summer. I hope to at least get into volunteer work or even a summer job until my next semester starts.**

 **Please wish me luck as I can always use some support from all you loyal and wonderful crowd out there! Enjoy life and see you later!***


	5. The Missing Prince And the Shower Room

999

The Missing Prince And the Shower Room

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or 999.**

 _Previously on 999: 9 Shinobi Behind 9 Doors with 9 Hours,_

" _I will seem that Zero can control out fate from wherever he is stationed. Let's just search until we hear the chime for 10 o'clock and return to the hospital room." Naruto said firmly and went to cover some ground, one after another went to the same until they were all looking. Soon, the chime was heard across the entire 'C Deck'….6…7…8…9…10. The next one never came so it was time for Naruto to return back to base in the hospital room like he suggested._

 _When he did, he found everyone standing in front of the numbered doors or more specifically the RED of door [7]. Naruto wanted to find out what was the commotion about and learned something that sent shivers through his skin. "Oh Naruto. Someone had fixed the REDs and got them working again."_

 _"So, what is the trouble?" Naruto asked until Clover answered in a tone that closely match a kid who lost their favorite stuffed bunny._

 _"My brother is missing."_

Naruto felt like the life from his body was leaving him. They had already lost one of their own and now it seemed to happen for the second time. "What do you mean Snake is gone!? I thought we all supposed to meet here when the bell rings!"

After searching everywhere for Snake, it was time to return to their base and rethink about all this. When they arrived back at the hospital room, everyone else was already there and were silent about something.

Lotus was deep in thought until she became the one that broke the silence. "It looks like it is useless to try and search for Snake so let's decide who is going into either [7] or [8]." Naruto was confused, it was like she forgot about the third door available in this room.

"But what about [3]?" Lotus smiled,

"We can't all go through the three doors at the same time. There is no possible way to do it since there is only seven of us left." Naruto had to painfully admit that main sense, "And while I am at it. We must left someone behind in order to go through the two doors left."

"You mean that we can't just make a team of three and a team of four to go through the doors?" Naruto asked to be clearer,

"Yeah. No combo works like that with our numbers so we must leave someone behind." Lotus explained which caused a ruckus in the room as to who gets to stay behind until Ace spoke in a booming and clear voice,

"I will stay behind." Naruto was shocked, no more than June. Ace said that he is old and doesn't have the energy to keep exploring as well as everyone else. When June protested, Ace showed to have been exhausted by injecting some kind of serum into his system which slowed his heart rate to a more comfortable pace; so much that it made him sleepy and unable to move right.

"Now that is more like it and now we need to decide who wants to go through which door now that we can separate into groups of three." Lotus shared them with the crowd until she left to Clover who had been worried sick the entire search time for Snake, her only brother. Naruto went them over in his mind and the plans were like this;

Plan A divides into two teams:

(358) and (467).

Plan B divides into two teams:

(457) and (368).

Plan C divides into two teams:

(458) and (367).

Naruto then realized something; no matter the plan, he can never be with bracelet [6], his best friend June. So he will have to make the right choice for both he and June, the one person he trusted the most out of everyone, she must have done the same thing too. As Naruto thought hard on which door to go through, he then had a brain surge that cause him to smile like a madman. "Sorry Santa. I still want to go through door [3]." Santa was shocked,

"Did I just say that we can't!? You will have to leave three people behind! Why are you so obsessed with that door?!" Santa ranted but Naruto had a plan and it was starting to work.

"Oh I don't know~." Naruto said in a teasing tone, like a girl who had a secret she was bargaining with her friend's loyalty to share it. Naruto then walked in the direction of the door, "I have a good reason and I will be happy to explain it if you want to listen." That had gotten everyone's curiosity, the next step to this plan.

Once Naruto had arrived at the door with the number [3] emblazoned on, he turned to Seven who had joined the crowd around the blonde and the door. "Hey Seven? I need to know if the REDs actually work now that they supposedly are functional. Maybe Zero is trying to screw up our minds or something."

"Fine." Seven grunted and placed his hand like a paper weight on a scale. "Happy?" He asked Naruto in a gruff tone and the blonde nodded.

"Very." Santa wasn't taking this one bit easy.

"Okay Naruto. Tell us what this shit is." Naruto nodded and faced the crowds once more,

"I think that I have found another way out." Everyone was now excited and in anticipation; just like Naruto's plan predicted. "Now can June come over here and verify your number."

June said, "O-okay." Once she did, Naruto placed his hand on the scanner thus making it total eighteen with a digital root of [9].

"Now the only people that haven't authenticated are Santa, Lotus and Clover." Naruto brought up and the woman replied in a grumpy tone,

"And your point is?" Naruto smirked, they are still walking through his plan without realizing it.

"You don't get it? Think." Lotus was confused and waited for a better response. "What is the total number of your bracelet and Clover's?"

"Twelve."

"And what is the digital root of twelve?"

"[3]." Lotus said while losing her patience until Naruto had finally revealed his plan.

"The same as Santa's. By the way, the number in the Red now is eighteen whose digital root is [9] so when we add a [3] to it, the digital root becomes that last number. That is how we are going to get through door [3]." Naruto explained and then the tension was cut like a hot knife through butter.

"But why did you want to go through Door [3]? You will be leaving people behind!?" Santa ranted until he saw Naruto's head turn to June who seemed to get it.

"Naru-chan…" She muttered until Santa got tit as well; he just didn't take it that easily.

"You…you…you son of a bitch! You tricked us! You wanted to go through a numbered door with June!" Naruto kept his smirk and repeated.

"Now who is coming with us? You Santa or Lotus and Clover. What is it going to be?" Naruto had successfully changed the tide and now everyone else had to make a decision and not the blonde alone.

"We are going!" Lotus wanted to get out of this predicament and she grabbed Clover's hand, taking the young girl by surprise. Santa then heard them charging to the door and took off after them like a bullet out of a gun. Lotus may had the head start but Santa had the advantage in size and speed; he soon out ran them and slapped his hand on the scanner which read his number.

This caused Lotus and Clover to freeze in shock so Naruto pulled the lever which opened the door. "GO!" Naruto and his three reluctant companions raced to make in the door before it closed after nine seconds. Naruto had only that much time to look back at them before the doors shut like the jaws of a colossal beast.

"You bastard! Why did you do that!? You let them to die!" Santa ranted and tugged at Naruto's collar until Seven tore the silver haired boy apart from the blonde.

"Enough! If we die, none of this matters! Now get the hell on your asses and look for the DEAD!" Everyone did and the DEAD wasn't anywhere in the corridors so they took to the only door near them. It lead them into a dark room where the only light was a flashing red one on the door side of the room from the door.

Naruto started to approach the blinker when he felt like stepping in a puddle or something. It didn't' match up as anything good but that wasn't on his mind. Seven pushed Naruto into the direction of the DEAD that they could faintly see in the darkness. After scanning their hands in quick succession, Seven pulled the lever after find it in the dark.

The bracelets stopped beeping and the skull picture disappeared from the number screens. After catching their breath, the gang noticed something they had missed in their hate to the DEAD; a horrible stench that filled the entire room, like rotting flesh. It came from the area where they just entered and what they saw was enough to make June scream in horror and fear.

It was like a sea of blood where a body was lying just like the ninth man, the first to die out of the nine strangers. The bomb inside the body had exploded causing blood to stain on the floor and walls while the main body had hole in the stomach with all the intestines spilling out like spaghetti. The legs were bent in a strange and twisted way wile Naruto could see a painfully broken white bone sticking out of the left arm as the ulna. Even half the skull and face had collapsed so Naruto wasn't able to make out who it was until he noticed the blood covered and torn clothes the body seemed to be wearing.

"It is…Snake. Right?" Santa had to blunt like always. What happened next was sound that will haunt their minds, a scream. A bloodcurdling scream that came from June who looked like a woman gone insane who was trying to rip out her hair. Naruto could see that some of the hair strands were about to fall out.

"Let me out of here!" June charged for the opposite door and banged on it while shouting to no one. Naruto could see that her knuckles were white and had blood drawn on them. "Please let me out! Why!? Why are you doing this!? What did we do to deserve this!?" Naruto had to stop her and the only way was to bind her. "Let me go! _Let me go_!" June attacked Naruto and tried to get free but instead she calmed through exhaustion and gave up on acting like a wild animal.

"It is okay June. It is okay. We are going to live through this." Naruto said in a low tone that only June was able to here. "Zero didn't do this to us. He gave us a chance to live and we are going to, Hina-chan." June nodded after hearing that nickname, Naruto hadn't forgotten her at all. Now she was where she wanted to be, in Naruto's arms where she felt the warmest ever; that is until Santa had to ruin it.

"If you are done with your cuddling and then smooching shit, one of our own died in this room!" Santa had brought done everyone's spirits but Naruto had a way with that,

"Give me your clothes Santa." Everyone was wondering what had gotten to the blonde. "Come one, I want to be you for a change and you can be Naruto."

"It doesn't work like that you idiot!" Santa yelled but Naruto had a smirk on his face like when a fox sees his enemies falling for his traps.

"I thought you will say that so why is a man wearing prince clothing going to be Snake?" That got everyone's attention. "That is why I asked for your clothes Santa, when I wear them then I will be Santa and you will be Naruto."

"…" Santa said nothing and just left to look around and away from the body. Somehow, that joking around had lighten everyone's experiences and cause them to think twice about all this. Now it was time to do what needs to be done; seek a way out!

XXXXX

Looking around and not at the bloody mess of a body were the toilet stalls. When Naruto tried the one to the far left, there was no toilet. Just an empty pale and a broom. Above were a stack of toilet paper but Naruto had noticed something up with the one on the top; it had strange markings on it! "Looks like a Scytale Cipher. Like those when to write on a sheet of paper that was wrapped around a cylinder object, you can't read it once you take the sheet of paper off and place it in a wrapped position on itself."

"Right." Naruto said when he went on searching and noticed a wooden box near the pile of toilet paper. Inside was a spray bottle with a label that half readable. But it seemed that Seven knew what it was.

"This is luminol, like those forensic guys use to uncover blood even when a surface is cleaned of it. They will only appear in complete darkness." Naruto had a good feeling on where to use it.

Near the body were writing that seemed to be of older blood than the dead body. It said (LLR) which made no sense until Naruto sprayed the luminol to the right and turned the light off. It then said in full view with the luminol, (LLRLRL). It had to make sense somewhere but Naruto just remembered that the first, third and fifth digits were on a higher level than the second, fourth and sixth digits.

Naruto then remembered the broom from where he found the water pail, luminol spray bottle and toilet paper that had markings on it. When Naruto was about to pick up the broom, June spoke up. "The rabbit hutch." Naruto was wondering about that stuff until he remembered about it,

"Yeah. I still can't believe it had to happen." Apparently there was an incident when both Naruto and Hinata was in fifth grade. They were in charge of the school pets—the rabbits. But one day, when Naruto slept in, something horrible had happened and when Naruto got to the rabbit hutch, he found Hinata weeping at the sight of the rabbits covered in blood and wounds; they were slaughtered by someone who had broken the lock on the door. Hinata wouldn't stop crying even when the teachers and parents who have heard their screams had arrived. The police said they will find out who did this but Naruto wanted to find out for himself. He had read in the detective novels that the culprits always go back to the scene of the crime when the heat dies down so he wanted to ambush them and make them pay for what they have done. The cute part was that Hinata had joined him too and they waited that whole night but nothing had happened.

"And nothing ever did. The police said that they have found the culprits somewhere else and were severely punished for their actions." June brought up and Naruto chuckled at the whole thing. "And to think that you joined because you were the only student to volunteer to take care of the rabbits."

"Well…you looked lonely so I couldn't let you do it alone." Naruto said in an honest tone that still made June giggle. Seriously, Naruto wanted her to stay home because in order to cut the rabbits up, the culprit had to wield a knife or something that sharp with him; he could have hurt Hinata who was waiting with Naruto.

"But even though nothing had happened, I still enjoyed waiting because…it was with you." Naruto had to look down to hide his blush from everyone.

"Aw man." Naruto muttered before getting back to the puzzle solving. He then put the toilet paper on the broom and unraveled it to show clear numbers and a plus symbol that went like this: (634+) It made no sense but Naruto figured it was only a piece of the puzzle so he left in the back of his head and looked around for more hints.

He then remembered the note in blood so he checked out the section with the shower heads and saw that there were six values to be adjusted in a similar way to the note. After moving the handles into the direction indicated by the letters on the way, he saw that Santa wasn't pleased with it.

"Hey what did you do!? Now the drain is acting funny!" Pointing to the only drain in the floor, Naruto saw that instead of water going down, the water was exiting the drain; this made the drain ineffective. But when the blonde looked closer, he saw that the drain had something under the gate that separated the water from any debris inside. After removing the gate, he saw a scan key with the symbol for Mercury like on the elevators outside.

Everyone thought so too but it wasn't going to get them out so the group resumed searching. Then Naruto realized that he still had an empty pail so he filled it with hot water with the help of Seven. Looking at the toilet stands that actually had toilets, there was one that had a stain in the bowl that looked like tar. Since the tank was empty, it was impossible to flush the toilet.

Opening the tank, Naruto found a screwdriver inside but was out of reach. Filling the tank with hot water had floated the screwdriver into an arm's reach. This also helped flush the tar off to show more numbers and an equal sign that went like this: (185=). It will seem that it was another part of the puzzle with the numbers on the broom. But still they haven't used the screwdriver yet and Naruto saw that there was a thermostat range on the wall.

When Naruto went up to unscrew it, Santa spoke again. "Hey Naruto." The blonde kept unscrewing but also let Santa speak with him. "Do you know why thermostats only reach 107 degrees?" Naruto halted to shake his head before unscrewing again. "It is because when living organisms reach 107 degrees, then their cells will get fired and their hearts will stop; they will die in any hotter temperature. That is why there is no reason to have a gauge of that temperature rang. It will was being trapped in a sauna or tossed into an incinerator." Naruto stopped to laugh at that, making Santa feel like he was so kind of clown that had made witnesses of a dead body laugh still so the boy just went and left Naruto to the thermostat.

Naruto finally got the thermostat down to see that there was an addition to the gauge after 107 degrees. It said 'OPEN' in those big letters. To Naruto, that meant the thermostat had to be above 107 degrees and to that, they need to use boiling water like from the shower heads. With Seven's help, that plan worked and the thermostat 'opened' to show more numbers with a plus sign as well as the broom with the paper on; it went like this, (957+).

After looking in the other toilet tank, they found a red scan card to use and that was it, there wasn't anything left to find. That meant that they had found everything to use in order to get out. At the door had a lock similar to the one on the oven from the kitchen but with two key card readers with a red and blue bulb to one of them.

Naruto tried the cards and they all verify at the card scanners which allowed the blonde to punch in the right number as the clues made something like this; (634+957+185=) and that all added up to (1776) which happened to be the right answer and the door unlocked. They have found a way out!

XXXXX

When they left the shower room and the dead body inside, they found a neat hallway where they also found a map of the entire 'C Deck'. The double doors in front of them were left the other side of the doors they went through which meant only one thing. "I am sorry Naruto." Santa delivered it, "Looks like we all worried for nothing. It was possible to return to the hospital room after all."

Naruto nodded, "It was like Zero planted these doors for us to find the key in the drain. Maybe in order to find the other doors." Seven and June nodded as that made sense perfectly. But also that since they found 'Snake' there was no good reason to keep looking in the other doors. Seven then used his strength to open the doors in front of them and they did indeed return to the hospital room. The silence there was broken when a loud *SLAP!* Lotus had raced to Naruto only to slap him on the cheek so hard that it left a red marking of a human had on his cheek.

"How could you leave us behind!? What if you did escape? What about us!?" Lotus ranted on like that while Clover was also angry about it, she did notice that no one tried to stop Lotus and they didn't have much excited expressions on their faces either. They all thought that the gang had left them to die with no other way of going through the other doors even with Ace's help; that was how serious the situation was so Lotus wanted to slap Naruto hard on the face for both tricking them into going with him all because the blonde wanted to go with June and that they were left behind, fearing for their lives.

"You're right Lotus. We can leave though now we have found a key to the elevator outside." Now that got everyone's attention and including Ace who just woke looking very rested.

"But about my brother!?" Clover protested and saw that the group looked at each other deeply, like they were troubled about what to say to her.

End of Chapter 5

 ***Hello everyone! I am now getting into a routine of balancing the story making to keep up my other stories because it seemed that you don't listen to me. I hope it is no trouble for you like it for me. It will help me greatly because I still have school left to do.**

 **I am even trying to get into the gig with my other stories that I have been meaning to for other a year. It will be hard and sometimes I think that this will be the biggest obstacle for any author. Please try to understand that much because we authors have out won problems like you and everyone else and it seems that life is all about trying to solve every problem that comes across you before another comes and another too until it all piles up. All I have to say is that to think hard on your choices and live your days to the best you can!***


	6. The Door Down Bottom

999

The Door Down Bottom

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or 999.**

 _Previously on 999: 9 Shinobi Behind 9 Doors with 9 Hours,_

" _You're right Lotus. We can leave though now we have found a key to the elevator outside." Now that got everyone's attention and including Ace who just woke looking very rested._

 _"But about my brother!?" Clover protested and saw that the group looked at each other deeply, like they were troubled about what to say to her._

"We have good news and we have some bad news. It is best that you hear the bad news first." Naruto said and the crowd peered in, "The bad news is that there is a dead body in the shower room where door [3] has led us to." Everyone was on edge after hearing that, there was no one but their group of nine; it might be Snake. "The good news is that the whole thing had lead back here so no one gets left behind." Naruto had changed the subject in order to lighten the environment, "We also can't say that the man in the shower room was Snake yet. All we found on the body was his clothes and nothing else left." That had also given hope to the crowd and especially Clover.

"Now let's see where this key leads by using it at the elevators outside this room." Naruto said and everyone agreed, the hospital room was starting to creep them all out with a dead body just a door or two and a hallway away even if isn't their missing member. Once Naruto used the scan key, the elevators sprung to life and they used it only to reach a lower level that seemed to be an air pocket under the water.

There was also a hallway lead to the right and at the end of it was a door. A numbered door that had the number [2] emblazoned on it like the others. "Alright here is the plan. Me, Seven and Lotus will go through this door seeing where it will ed. The rest of you go back to the hospital room and try out the two doors left. See if you can find another key that will led to another numbered door."

"Hey wait a minute!" Lotus shouted before anyone could even agree. "Why do I have to be with this brute!?" Naruto just signed like a frustrated old man to his fighting grandchildren. Lotus never did tolerated Seven because the mountain of a man was nearly as blunt about her being a woman as Santa.

"Because Lotus, I can just go through this door with June but we can only got through a numbered door with three people the least. So the next number after eleven to have a digital root of [2] will be twenty and you two are the only ones whose numbers add up to fifteen plus my five will equal twenty. It is the only way it will work." Naruto explained and the woman fumed in defeat.

"But then we will be just four members. How are we supposed to cover all the doors back there?" Clover asked and Naruto actually smiled at that more positive tone,

"Then you will go through door [8] with someone to wait for us. Remember that Zero told us the only way to escape is through a door with the number [9] and we haven't found one yet. This door will led back somewhere so we will try to group up again." Naruto explained and everyone soon agreed to it. June was just worried about Naruto since the blonde had tried to make sure that he will always go with her.

"Naruto, will we really meet up again?" June asked after everyone else had left with the blonde, Lotus and Seven remaining.

"Sure. We will all get out and even find Snake while we are at it. Just please promise me that you look after them because I can't guarantee them to stay together soon. They are scared and we often do things we are never proud of when we act scared." Naruto said until June did something he never even dreamed of doing; she kissed him on the lips!

"I have been wanting to do that ever since I last saw you and I want to do it while I can." June said after she parted lips leaving a blushing Naruto in her wake. "I will see you later Naruto…I love you." June said that last part under her breath that Naruto had heard anyways.

"Good luck June and goodbye." June then left in the direction of the elevator, leaving a still blushing Naruto. "Oh man." He muttered until he felt a huge but friendly hand on his shoulder.

"You are one lucky boy there kid. To have a pretty girl like June wanting to stay will you. Let's all make that happen okay?" Seven said and Naruto nodded. They and Lotus then verified their numbers at the RED and Naruto pulled the lever with all his might and the door opened. They raced in and searched for the DEAD under the haunting beeping of their bracelets.

"There it is!" Naruto pointed out for the others and they managed to scan their bracelets and Seven pulled the lever down which halted the denotation. They all took a minute to catch their breath.

"It stopped…that is the third time any of us had to go through bullshit and crap like this." Naruto was muttering again since his breath still hurt so much after that near death experience.

"Yeah but now we are here, let's start looking for a way out." Seven said, "Since there are four doors and one of them is locked, we better split up and try each of the rooms. I will take this one while Lotus does next door." The woman just scoffed and took the one second down the hall while Seven took the first one. Naruto was left staring at the hallway of doors. It was time to do the one thing that is going to get them out of here with another key to use; Seek a Way Out!

XXXXX

When Naruto tried out his room, it was like a cell with a bed that was either rotting away or rusting that had a very thin blanket that stank as much as it looked. There was a sink with a mirror that was too high to see in. There was another mirror on the same height from the ground but on the adjacent wall to the left. There was even a toilet stand with a short wall for privacy but Naruto didn't need to use it. The only light in the room came in a very thin beam in the center of the room.

"What the hell is this room?" Naruto muttered until he decided to do for the heck, check out the toilet lid and was confused to see writing on the bottom side. It said, 'E=14'. According to the hexadecimal that Naruto had verified with Lotus in the kitchen; that made sense. But it still didn't meant anything since there were no other 'E's in this room. Deciding not to waste any more time in this room, Naruto went to Seven's room.

It was barely any different but this time, the room was completely lit with a lamp unlike his room. There was also a desk there too but the lone drawer had screws on top of the handle for some reason. Seven said that he will never even try the chair because it will collapse to his weight. Then they both saw something in the mirror above the sink but at a much better distance in order for the prisoners to see their reflections; yet in the reflection, there was a blue drawing resembling something out of a whirlpool or a water maelstrom like the blonde's name. "Just what the hell is this shit?" Seven was scratching his head after pulling off his cap. Naruto didn't know either so he went to try out something else.

It turned out that the toilet lid had something on the bottom side but not a number or letter but the picture of a sun for some reason. Then Naruto noticed that there was a clean roll of toilet paper unlike the first room. After trashing it, Naruto noticed that the bar that held up the roll was thinner than the rest of the holder. "What the hell is this doing here then?" Naruto muttered and then the bar fell into his hand and revealed to be a screw from a screwdriver but the handle was missing. The handle in question happened to be hanging on the toilet flusher and it came off the string really easily which told Naruto that it was not supposed to be there. Naruto then fastened the two pieces together to form a screwdriver in a hurry.

"Then what are you going to use it for?" Seven saw what Naruto had done but the only answer was a smirk from the blonde who only walked over to the desk and unscrewed the screws, thus allowing the drawer to be removed. It didn't seem to do anything or contain anything; once pulling it out completely, Naruto saw that there was something like bumps on the end.

Finally looking in the sink, Naruto saw something inside the bottom. A title that had lines going vertical and horizontal but while the blue lines formed an 'X', the red lines formed something like a '14'. But with the tight fit, it was impossible to get out with fingernails. So Naruto decided that there wasn't anything left to look for in this room.

When Naruto got to room that Lotus was searching through, it was no different from Seven's room. Naruto had to check something first and just like the other rooms, there was something on the bottom of the toilet lid. It had the symbol of a moon this time, "What does that even mean?" Lotus could only ask and Naruto just shrugged his shoulders. On the bed, Naruto had found something else; a towel with the whirlpool symbol along with the symbol of a river that Naruto spotted on the mirror in this room, most curious. He then noticed that the desk had no screws attached to the drawer but there was something off about the handle. Unlike the other drawers, the handle resembled more like the faucet handles. Naruto then took out the drawer completely to see that the entire bottom side had a mirror!

"This is definitely part of the puzzle. But first I need to loosen the handle off this drawer." Naruto muttered to himself and he did so, the handle then fell off naturally. Then Naruto saw something in the empty place where he just pulled out the drawer. It looked familiar and Naruto had the urge to place the first drawer into this space. When he did, there was a muffled sound of something falling from somewhere else. "Did something fall?"

"I heard it too." Lotus replied and when Naruto opened the drawer, there was a title from Seven's room. It was like the first one completely and so Naruto pocketed it. Then Naruto remembered that he still had the loose faucet handle so he placed it back on to the sink and turned to let the water out. "What are you doing!?" Lotus asked in protest but Naruto just watched the water build up in the sink. "The pipes must be clogged or something." Naruto ignored her and rushed out to the room for some reason.

He then appeared in Seven's room much to the mountain man's confusion. They then looked into sink only to see that water had somehow appeared as well but had caused the title to float out of its tight fit at the bottom of the sink and into finger's fit. But once Naruto had pocketed the title, he noticed Seven holding his head like he had gotten a head ache. "Hey man. Are you hurting somewhere?"

"No." Seven shook his head as Naruto tried to reach to help, "No don't talk. I have just got it." Naruto nodded, "I remembered something!" Naruto nodded and urged for him to continue without actually saying the words. "I remember that I was here! In this room!"

"Really man? What else do you remember?" Naruto asked and Seven explained that nine years ago, he was a police cop working on a really big case; it was about the kidnapping of sixteen children. He had gotten a lead from one of the employees who said that they will be shipped on to a cruse linear that was leaving that evening. When Seven tried to sneak aboard, he was knocked out and woke up in this very room.

Then Seven remembered that he heard voices belonging to children from under the bed and from a ventilation shaft. He barely fit and followed the voices until he noticed the shaft getting larger and wider than he was. And then opened a door to some room where he froze in shock. Sadly that was where the memories ended. "No matter how hard I tried, the rest never comes. Dammit!"

"Never mind Seven. Let's just get out of here." Naruto said and Seven nodded. The blonde then noticed that he hadn't found anything in the third room yet and wanted to try something. In the darker room, Naruto used the mirror at the bottom of the drawer from Lotus's room with the beam of light. It had reflected light into the mirrors above the sink to reveal something hidden in the darkness on the adjacent wall. It showed the sun and moon symbols in respective top left and bottom right.

Doing at the mirror on the same wall had showed something else hidden on the wall with the sink. It seemed to be numbers in the same format as the symbols with a [4] and a [7]. That meant that the [4] was paired with the [sun], and the [7] was paired with the [moon]. Naruto tried to think of what the toilet all have in common and realized that they all had something that can both interact with; the string used to flush them.

Naruto went to Seven's rooms in order to try it. He remembered from his room that he must do something related to four with the toilet. He ignored Seven's confused stare on him as the blonde tried to pull the string four times. It did nothing because he wasn't done yet. After entering Lotus's room and also ignoring the stare on him as he pulled that string seven times. Then he heard something click and unlock back in the dark room.

When he returned, Naruto searched the room for anything that has changed. When he tried the drawer, he found not one but two titles like he had found each in both Seven's and Lotus's room. That was then that something had returned to his mind that he had nearly forgotten. On the locked door, there were titles with letters that spelled out 'EMERGENCE'. Realizing that he still had to figure out what the lid in his room meant. The titles all have the number [14] which meant the letter 'E' in the hexadecimal system. Wait, is there…?

"Arrgh!" Naruto yelled which alerted his companions and they hurried to his room while disgusted that it was worse than their own. "I have figured it out! Come one!" Confused, Seven and Lotus followed Naruto anyways to the locked door. Naruto was having the titles in hand and stared at the ones on the door itself. "Look at this word guys." Naruto then said without looking at them, "How many 'E's are in it?"

"I count four." Seven grunted and Naruto nodded.

"And what number do these titles have?" Naruto showed them off to them in his open palm.

"The number fourteen so what?" Lotus replied in frustration that she is still left in the dark by the blonde. Naruto then took out every title with the letter 'E" on and replaced them with the titles found in the other rooms. Then the door unlocked with a click and Naruto smiled at them as they both pieced it together.

"The letter 'E' means fourteen in the hexadecimal system and…" Lotus started.

"There are four 'E's in emergence so all you need to do is replace them with the fourteen titles." Naruto nodded and began to open the door with his companions proud of him for figuring these things altogether. The way out had been found!

XXXXX

After opening the door, everyone didn't recognize this room but they knew what it was used for. There were rusty tools for cutting apart meat and even an electric chair for the prisoners to receive electric shocks as the death penalty. It was a torture and experiment room.

There was a door on a short cat walk and once Naruto tried it, it was locked. What a surprise. It will seem that under the shortest notice yet, it was time again; Seek a Way Out!

XXXXX

No matter how hard they tried, the electric chair or mores especially the chair with wires attached to it was the one that always drawn their attention the most. When they looked closer, there were mandibles to keep the living being in check. Still there was something off about these mandibles.

"It looks like they are locked." Naruto pointed out and Seven noticed it too.

"Yeah. I looks kinda like the doors from the main staircase, there is a strange symbol here." Seven added and the symbol in question appeared to be,

"I think June called it the symbol of the sun." Naruto said and the two left it as that. The blonde then noticed that there was a machine that was like a grid. It showed the diagrams of someone's brain and then a mechanical voice.

[This device will now conduct the experiment. Once this experiment has been completed, the door will unlock.] That had both set hope and fear into the minds of the group as they had no idea what the machine meant by 'experiment' and given this room, one will never think of it being lollipops and rainbows. [First, adjust the switches to match the blocks in the sample above.] After that being said, there was something like looking into the head of a patient. Naruto had performed the sample and the machine sprang back into action again, [Adjustment is completed. Now proceeding to execution phrase.] They swallowed the lumps in their throats and prepared themselves for what to come next. [To complete the experiment, date must be collected from subject. Once the preparation is finished, place subject in the chair.]

"What the hell does it mean by preparation?" Seven was muttering out loud. Lotus didn't look better,

"I don't know but I have a feeling it is not something good." Naruto was thinking of something else.

"But once we have been prepared for the experiment, who is going to seat in the chair?" Now that took his companions by surprise and they looked at Naruto like was crazy. "Seven can't fit in and that leaves only Lotus and I?"

"Are you saying that we should go with this crazy machine's experiment? Are you mad?" Naruto was not amused.

"No but the machine is going to let us out if we do and you want to get out of here right?" Lotus didn't say another word in response. Naruto tried to see how to prepare the machine but instead it told him this.

[Error: The disposal tank is closed.] Naruto was confused by that, [Please fill the tank with water.] Naruto had no idea what to do now, "How am I supposed to fill the tank if I don't know how or even where the tank is?" Seven and Lotus were relieved that there was another delay for them to think about this.

After re-checking the catwalk and the door, Naruto decided to check out the cart with a tablecloth on that had many rusty tools but as Naruto looked closer. "Hey this wrench looks brand new compared to the rest." Naruto muttered as he picked a freshly polished and maintained wrench out of the bunch. "Maybe I am supposed to use for something."

Naruto then noticed that there was a pipe with a hatch closed off and sealed by nut bolts. Using the wrench while ignoring the others, Naruto was able to get the hatch off and reach in his hand to see what was to be found. "But what if something in there bites your arm off!?" Lotus was clearly overlooking things because no living thing other than a human can ever survive in this ship which looked abandoned for years.

And there wasn't anything like that at all, instead was a key. A key with the familiar symbol of a [sun] on the handle. It was something important the use for sure so Naruto pocketed it in his jacket. Then he remembered that he still need to make the preparations for the experiment if they want to get out.

So he tried out the control panel and finally found the right lever that showed a light in the glass on the ground just in front of the chair. It was dead shark, lying on its back not even twitching. On its back were letters in the order from the top to bottom; (EDBF). While Naruto was still trying to take it in and remember the words in that order, his companions were not taking it in so easily.

"Just what the hell had killed that shark?" Lotus was not liking this at all and neither was Seven.

"Maybe from an electric shock that was able to fry its brain from its thick skin." While they were trying to solve their little mystery, Naruto realized that the letters from the six buttons on the right side of the levers including the yellow one that turned on the light which showed the shark. Punching in the numbers had done something for sure as the machine turned back to life when the sound of moving water was to be heard.

[The restraining device is unlocked. Please seat the subject in device.] The message was disturbingly detached and it was also emotionless. They still didn't chose who was to be seated in the chair at all.

After much debating, Lotus volunteered to do it. "Listen." She tried to convince the troubled men, "If something does happen to me, find my daughters and tell them that I loved them." That really shocked them,

"You have kids?" Naruto had a finally that Lotus was a mother and this proves it.

"Yes I do, and they were the best children I can ever had. They were twins actually and they were never apart from each other. They were adorable and that makes me proud of being a mother all up to when they were kidnapped." That was something not to drop for sure,

"They were kidnapped? Seven!" Naruto turned to the mountain man and he nodded in respond that confused Lotus. The two men then explained to them in every detail that Seven had told Naruto; the deadline and being assigned to the case, tracking the men to the piers, waking up in the cell, following the voices in the vent and opening a doorway to a strange room.

"I-I see, you probably were the wrong place if my children weren't there. All I was told is that this was all part of an experiment for access to the metamorphic field." Lotus then explained that there was an experiment that man was hoping to delve into the field and learn its secrets. But in order to do it, they had eighteen test subjects, nine in two places. One was the [transmitters] that are supposed to send info to the other group that is called the [receivers]. When the transmitter group was to be exposed to a series of puzzles and danger, their answers can travel through the metamorphic field to the receiver group which will prove that there was a metamorphic field.

Naruto memorized every single detail and had no idea that it was going to be a huge clue to solving this whole mess and answer why they were there. But then the machine had sprung back to life.

[The subject is no in the device. Within ninety seconds, the machine will shut down and the door will no unlock.] This caused the group to hurry in their plan and Lotus sat in the chair in which the restraints also sprung to life, binding her to the chair like a prisoner. [Now that the subject has been placed in the device, the experiment will continue. Miss and the subject may die. Good luck.]

Despite Lotus saying that she felt no different, Naruto was still nervous that he has a human life in hand that depends on his precision in preforming the experiment. It seemed to be like the sample so Naruto at least knew what he was doing. Soon, the machine went back to left after Naruto followed its every instruction. [Congratulations. The experiment is complete and the door shall be unlocked.]

True to the word of the emotionless machine, the sound of a lock unlocking was heard as well as handcuffs unlocking as well and Lotus was freed from the experiment chair. Naruto and Seven were glad nothing bad had happened to Lotus and they fled for the door, not even looking back on the torture and experiment room. The Way Out Has Been Found, once again!

XXXXX

After that nightmare of a room, they came across a hallway like the ones from every floor they tried on this ship. They then approached a door with a special keyhole with the symbol that Naruto remembered that June called as the [Juniper] symbol. Deciding there was nothing to lose, Naruto tried to open the door only to find it unlocked. "What the hell?" Seven said in his shocked,

"They must have unlocked it with a key that had the Juniper symbol on." Naruto said and they made some sense since that is what the group left the others for. Going into the doorway, the group ended up at the main hallway on the 'B Deck'. What they saw next was something they couldn't believe, the sight was enough to turn their skin pale and their blood to ice.

End of Chapter 6

 ***I got to say that this chapter was very tough as for some reason I couldn't get any thoughts on the second escape-the-room puzzles that I have planned for this chapter so I had to change things around.**

 **Just letting you know that this chapter will be as half as long as the others and maybe the later chapters. So please be patient as I try to get back into the game. I have said this once and again and again and I will keep at it, I will complete this story despite how unpopular it will be.***


	7. Bad Ending 1

999

Bad Ending #1 and a Strange Second Chance

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or 999.**

 _Previously on 999: 9 Shinobi Behind 9 Doors with 9 Hours,_

 _Despite Lotus saying that she felt no different, Naruto was still nervous that he has a human life in hand that depends on his precision in preforming the experiment. It seemed to be like the sample so Naruto at least knew what he was doing. Soon, the machine went back to left after Naruto followed its every instruction. [Congratulations. The experiment is complete and the door shall be unlocked.]_

 _True to the word of the emotionless machine, the sound of a lock unlocking was heard as well as handcuffs unlocking as well and Lotus was freed from the experiment chair. Naruto and Seven were glad nothing bad had happened to Lotus and they fled for the door, not even looking back on the torture and experiment room. The Way Out Has Been Found, once again!_

 _XXXXX_

 _After that nightmare of a room, they came across a hallway like the ones from every floor they tried on this ship. They then approached a door with a special keyhole with the symbol that Naruto remembered that June called as the [Juniper] symbol. Deciding there was nothing to lose, Naruto tried to open the door only to find it unlocked. "What the hell?" Seven said in his shocked,_

 _"They must have unlocked it with a key that had the Juniper symbol on." Naruto said and they made some sense since that is what the group left the others for. Going into the doorway, the group ended up at the main hallway on the 'B Deck'. What they saw next was something they couldn't believe, the sight was enough to turn their skin pale and their blood to ice._

Right in front of them, on the main staircase, were three bodies in puddles of blood. All of them recognized them as Santa, Clover and Ace. Their skin was still warms which made sense since Naruto and his group didn't spend as much as an hour behind Door [2] but there was no pulse or breath. They were all dead.

"What the hell is this bullshit?" Naruto couldn't believe it as he tried to find one body that wasn't dead among the pile. "Who the hell did this to them?" It seemed that the wounds were to be caused by an axe but Naruto can't recall where an axe was to be found anywhere on the ship. Who could have gotten an axe and used to kill everyone!?

"I have no idea Naruto but we better keep going or we will be next. We know how they died so let's just do what they wanted us to do." Seven said and Naruto meant so he just got up from the bodies and made a quick and silent prayer to them. Running up the stairs was what he did next with Seven and Lotus in tow, the only ones left he knew were still alive with June currently missing.

They soon reached a door they have forgotten about. It had a keyhole with the symbol for the sun on top. That matched the key found in the torture room so Naruto placed it inside and twisted it hard but…"What is wrong kid?" Seven asked seeing Naruto freeze up.

"Nothing." Naruto said in disbelief and fear, "I didn't feel it unlock!" Now they all were panicking.

"Is it the wrong key!?" Lotus asked but then she noticed something that the others did too. The door was already unlocked!

"B-but how!? The door was locked and we just got the key!" Naruto was not understanding any of this and it was starting to creep him out. Any way, they hurried through the door and came across another after a long hallway.

Unlike the other doors, it resembled much like the science fiction futuristic science films to say the least. There was no card reader, no doorknob, no keyhole and no RED anywhere. Not one of them knew if it was actually unlocked. Naruto tried it anyway and to their surprised, it moved and another hallway had shown in view.

It was a large and vast room on the end of the hallway. There were catwalks too and there was a submarine floating in water. But that wasn't what Naruto cared, no it was something much more sinister. There, on the floor near where the submarine was, June lying on the ground like a discarded doll and on top of a pool of blood.

"JUNE!" Naruto had forgotten about anything else, just getting to June. When he reached for her body, it was starting to feel cold. She was on the verge of dying for sure! "W-why? No…no…no no no!" Naruto was like an madman as that was all he could say as he clutched the dying body of June, the girl that was his best friend and more than that; he loved her, he was hoping to tell her that once he got out but now…

"Naru-chan…" The blonde looked down to see that Hinata was slowly opening her eyes, she ass still conscious at least.

"Hinata-chan!" Naruto didn't care for code-names anymore, "Who did this to you!? I thought you will be safe with the others!"

"Naru-chan…I am…sorry…I wanted…to get out and…be with you…" Hinata was living her last moments but Naruto won't have it.

"No…please say your energy. There is a submarine Hinata-chan. We can escape in that. We can still be together." Naruto was now empty, his love was dying in his arms and he can't do a thing to stop it.

"No Naru-chan…it just wasn't meant to be..." Hinata was still cold but her eyes still had warmth and love that filled Naruto's suffering soul with. "Remember that time…when we were children?"

Naruto could just nod, he couldn't bear to make Hinata's last breathes go to waste. "That was when we always hanged out…we always had fun…you were my best friend…my only friend…" Naruto did nothing but remember those memories, they were the only thing smiling and laughing to Naruto. "We even joke…about us being married…we loved to play it…out…" Hinata was now losing her energy at an alarming rate. "We always did love it…so we promised…to…try it...for a change…" Hinata now more coughing than speaking but she still went on. "I…wanted…to…say Naru-kun…I…love…y~." That was it, Hinata's voice faded like dust in the win. She was gone, departed from this word as of this very moment and in Naruto's arms.

For a while he did nothing but still held her in his arms. He then looked at her, Hinata still looked beautiful even in death. Naruto then kissed on the frozen lips, not caring if they didn't respond back. After that, he left her in order to find Lotus and Seven who were left behind. But Fate was far from over when it came to tormenting him.

There, in the hallway, were the body of a mountain and a dancer as cold as ice and not moving at all. Now Naruto was the only one left, there was nothing to go back for. Naruto then left at a slow rate to the submarine. He had to escape or all this was for nothing but as he begun to descend down the stairs, he felt it.

A sharp and hot pain in back. He lost all strength and feeling in his arms so he fell. Fell off the ladder but not into the submarine but into the water around it. He could do nothing as his body floated for a little while before he could feel him sinking.

There was someone on the ship, someone who had murdered everyone and including Naruto. Who did this? Why? Why did this all happened? Naruto had no answer to himself as his world turned black and silent.

And then, there was something he then felt all of a sudden. Like he was falling but as a slow rate. It was like he was in water but he could breathe in it. Naruto couldn't see, couldn't hear but he could still feel something there. Something fluid as water but as vast as the while world. Naruto didn't know what it was as he soon felt like it was engulfing him.

Then he felt nothing again and he never once did.

XXXXX

A ship was drifting aimlessly and without any clear course through the foggy oceans. In the background, the silence was broken by the harsh and cold beeping of a timer. Once the timer went to zero, the ship shook as a section of the bottom portion exploded.

The explosion shook all the way to a bottom deck chamber and awoke a young man from his sleep rather rudely. He was unaware that he was sleeping on the top bunk of a three bed bunker. He hit the ground very hard.

Once he got up and into the light, we could see that it was an indeed a young man, in his early twenties. He was wearing a very common jacket over unclean shirt and his shorts were all wrinkly like it came out of the wash the wrong way. But then he got a headache but it didn't seem to come from his fall. He even remembered that his name is Naruto Uzumaki.

Naruto saw everything about a group of strangers and one of them he recognized as his best friend from years ago. But before he could indulge deeper, a window to his room had burst open with water bursting in. He tried to panic while trying to figure why he felt like had done this before which was considered impossible.

After solving the puzzles of the room and opening the room. The young man hurried down the hallway and ran into the very strangers that he remembered somehow from his cell. As he gotten a closer look, he realized that he had missed some details about each of them.

The [lion] he remembered had a stuffy but strong shirt that described him as a well fit old man. The [prince] had the clothes of one with a burgundy tie, white shirt, a jacket with the yellow piping, and gray shacks. The boy with [silver] hair still had his clothes of a more common boy that had street clothes, loose and unkempt even more than Naruto's. The girl with the [pink hair] was like a school girl with her own jacket and more heavy clothing, her jacket covered all but her head showing. The [mountain] looked like an experienced construction worker with such clothes and scars on his face that ran all the way under his hat. The [dancer] had such clothing with jewelry and light clothing for hotter climates. Finally, the man with hair the shape of a [bird's nest] looked like an ordinary business man that was high on drugs and also work stress.

Then everything else had happened again. Naruto seeing Hinata Hyuga once again in years and yet felt like she was actually in his arms moments ago. Also the code names with the ninth man in the end holding the girl with the number [4] named 'Clover' hostage and forced the man with the number [1] named 'Ace' to open the door that had the number [5] emblazoned on like the one from Naruto's cell; only for the Ninth man to die behind it. But then came the choice between choosing which door to go through, Naruto could have gone with Hinata as she had a fright and fever but he wanted to investigate and look at the body closer.

This time, it felt like breaking from non-see-able bonds that pulled him a certain direction when Naruto said the words, "I choose Door [5]."

End of Chapter 7

 ***Hey guys! You might guess by now that the story is over but the game I am basing this one is one with multiple endings which made the game more fun as you can keep at it until you have unlocked all the endings. Remember how we covered only three rooms so far? There are plenty left but it was impossible to cover them all in one go. Still impressive that i have finally got this sage finished in the same evening as the last chapter isn't it?**

 **All I can hope is that the way I am incorporating this chance at multiple endings makes sense even for a science fiction fanfic like this one. That is why this chapter is shorter than the others. Tell me what you think!***


	8. Time for Door Five

999

Time for Door Five

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or 999.**

 _Previously on 999: 9 Shinobi Behind 9 Doors with 9 Hours,_

 _After solving the puzzles of the room and opening the room. The young man hurried down the hallway and ran into the very strangers that he remembered somehow from his cell. As he gotten a closer look, he realized that he had missed some details about each of them._

 _The [lion] he remembered had a stuffy but strong shirt that described him as a well fit old man. The [prince] had the clothes of one with a burgundy tie, white shirt, a jacket with the yellow piping, and gray shacks. The boy with [silver] hair still had his clothes of a more common boy that had street clothes, loose and unkempt even more than Naruto's. The girl with the [pink hair] was like a school girl with her own jacket and more heavy clothing, her jacket covered all but her head showing. The [mountain] looked like an experienced construction worker with such clothes and scars on his face that ran all the way under his hat. The [dancer] had such clothing with jewelry and light clothing for hotter climates. Finally, the man with hair the shape of a [bird's nest] looked like an ordinary business man that was high on drugs and also work stress._

 _Then everything else had happened again. Naruto seeing Hinata Hyuga once again in years and yet felt like she was actually in his arms moments ago. Also the code names with the ninth man in the end holding the girl with the number [4] named 'Clover' hostage and forced the man with the number [1] named 'Ace' to open the door that had the number [5] emblazoned on like the one from Naruto's cell; only for the Ninth man to die behind it. But then came the choice between choosing which door to go through, Naruto could have gone with Hinata as she had a fright and fever but he wanted to investigate and look at the body closer._

 _This time, it felt like breaking from un-see-able bonds that pulled him a certain direction when Naruto said the words, "I choose Door [5]."_

"B-but Naru-chan…" June was shocked, she had just saw her best friend and now they will have to split up again?

"Aww." Naruto teased June like his younger sister. "Are you that worried about me?" June looked down with a blushing face. "Don't worry about us, we will be fine and we will meet up again after the doors."

"How do you know!?" Naruto sighed as he had a bad feeling that something like this will happen. "That Zero bastard is going to split us apart expecting for us to meet again somewhere on other side!? What does he think he is doing!?"

"God you are so stupid." Naruto said uncalled for which got Santa silent with anger. "Of course he wants us to join up because if we don't then we can't escape. Zero knows that and he will never give us all this time to escape while knowing that is impossible. That is one boring game if you ask me." Naruto said with smirk in which Santa had now words left.

"Regardless, we are not getting out by just standing here. I, Naruto and Seven will go through door [5] while everyone else go through door [4]." Snake said to settle the atmosphere but someone didn't agree.

"NO! I am staying with big brother!" Clover of course was the one to protest but she then felt someone's hands on her shoulders but it was clearly not her brother's; it was Naruto's, hugging her like a lost child.

"Don't worry Clover. I am sure that we will meet up somewhere and we all will get out together. You are a big girl, you are already making your brother proud by being better than the Ninth man who wanted to hurt you to save himself. You are much better than scum like him and you will believe in your brother and wait for him right?" Naruto's voice was gentle and Clover couldn't fight the warm feeling from his body and the calming feeling in her heart. She just went up in tears while muttering 'okay' over and over until her voice died down along with her tears. She then went up to her group while saying 'I hope to see you again. Both of you'.

Snake then approached Naruto with a huge smile on his face, "That was a good thing you did Naruto. My sister had lost me once and she vowed right in front of my face that she wasn't going to leave my sight. You are really good to get her to leave me again."

Naruto just shrugged, "It is no prob. I do have a low paying part time job as a babysitter to be honest." The blonde blushed and scratched the back of his neck, expecting people to laugh but no one did. Instead, Snake got in hearing range and whispered in his ear.

'And I am blind and have a fake arm.' Naruto just chuckled, surely it was impossible; blind maybe but a fake arm must be a stretch. Or is it and did…? "Come one, we are not getting out by standing here. You must not forget what I have told you all that I have gotten from Zero." Naruto shook his head out of the stupor and hurried after Snake with Seven after them both and they placed their palms at the door and Snake pulled the lever. The door opened after that and Snake hurried towards the inside but didn't hear either Naruto's or Seven's footsteps. "Are you trying to kill me? You know what happens after nine seconds right?"

That alerted Naruto and Seven as they jumped through the door as it closed on them from behind. Then there was that haunting beeping sound again and when they heard it from their bracelets, they saw a skull mark where their numbers were to be. "Where is the DEAD!?" Seven started to panic and search the hallway. Naruto then pointed out something in the distance,

"There! I see something!" Naruto raced towards it while Seven and Snake followed after him. They found something for sure, it was device like the RED outside door [5]. The only difference is that it had snake decorations on the side and was in the color blue rather the RED who was in that very color itself.

"HEY!" Naruto ran to the door, ignoring the pool of blood. "Can you hear me over there!?" Naruto kept banging until he got his answer.

"Yeah we can Naru-chan!"

"Loud and clear!"  
"I can hear you!" Those answers went off like popcorn in a popper which meant that they were trying to hear him too; Naruto couldn't risk leaving anything else for them not to hear.  
"GOOD!" Naruto yelled at the top of his voice,

"The detonators have been deactivated!" Snake shouted out as well as both him and Seven both ignored the body pool in order to share the info.

"WE HAVE FOUND THE DEAD! LOOK FOR SOMETHING LIKE THE RED BUT IN A BLUE COLOR! YOU HEAR ME!? BLUE!" Naruto yelled out hoping they get every single word.

"Okay!"

"Thank you!"

"We will look!"

Naruto smiled at his responds and turned away from the door. Now he can look at the pool that was once a body. He saw the clothes of the Ninth man, the skull half crushed, the legs bent in a weird way and the stomach arena had a huge hole in it. There were the glasses that the Ninth Man was wearing by the body and the bracelet that he was also wearing on his wrist, still showing number [9].

Now was time to view the rest of the hallway, on the end was a black iron wall that looked like it won't move if they tried to open it. The walls had railings on for any rocky waters and there was a door on the left end of the hallway.

"Hey Snake, there is something on this door hear next to the DEAD." Seven said and Snake moved his hand over the door and felt a plate with letters on it that spelled '1st Class' like with the really wealthy live in because they can afford the prices. A better look at the door even showed more of what only the rich can experience, with golden decorations and shiny wood unlike the dirty and rough metals doors that Naruto woke up to see with his own hurt eyes.

"Well shall we do in?" Snake said and not even waiting to hear anything at this point, he then opened the door without hesitation. Yet Naruto didn't follow them, he still looked at the body mess with the last words echoing in his mind,

'It was he! He lied to me! He lie to me! He killed me! GARRGH~!' Who was _he_? Was it Zero? Why will he kill us all so soon in the game? Was it one of them who lied to the Ninth Man and caused him to seal his own fate? But why would one of use do it? For that matter, how did the Ninth Man knew how the RED work and since he did, he should have known the rest and not run off to die; did he forget or was never told? All these questions raced through Naruto's mind but before he could even organize them,

"Hey kid! Hurry up!" Naruto could hear Seven call out to him so he hurried to source of the voice's owner. He passed through a living room, a hallway of doors and into the master bedroom with a piano included but also another door that had an electronic lock. "As you can see, that is the exit but it is not going to be easy." Seven pointed out and Naruto nodded, it was time to start looking around: Seek a Way Out!

XXXXX

Naruto tried out the piano, the keys were working just find but without any music sheets, it will be impossible to find the right tone to cause anything. Snake deduced by examining the lock on the door by the bed that it will only unlock if the right tone is played on the piano. So Naruto looked for any clues Zero left in the room to the right music.

When there was nothing in the drawer near the bed, Naruto checked it out as the next thing to do; there was a glass sheet under the pillow. Still it only had one note each line so it was much help to the situation. Then Naruto went up to Snake and asked something to be sure of, "Is it true that you are blind?"

Snake smiled, he must have this question asked all the time. "Yes I am but don't take me for a senior citizen, I am still able win in wrestling matches. It is all in the ears and the nerves because most people don't know this about us blind folk." Naruto nodded and listened, "Since we all used our eyes all the time, when we are blind, we have to relive on our senses. As a result our taste, touch and hearing is much better than yours; that is how I live my life." Snake finished with a smile, sure that Naruto has no more questions; there was this one though.

"Does Clover know? She is your younger sister." Naruto asked and Snake nodded; that was enough to go back to searching for a way out. And since there was nothing left in the bedroom, he left it and passed the piano. But he then noticed something out of the blue that he had no idea how he missed it. It was a map of the ship or mores specially, the entire 'B Deck' they were now in. And according it, the two hallways behind the two doors do lead to one place; the stairs to the 'C Deck'. Just like what Naruto had somehow remembered from his cell; that settled his nerves so he was now able to focus better

The hallway is the same as ever with three doors; on to the living room, one back to the bedroom which left one more. Naruto tried it and the room turned out to be the bathroom. No water came out of the shower head (Seven mistook it for a game mic which Naruto playfully pointed out to him). Yet the bathtub was filled with water that was so dirty, you could see your hand if you dip it in. Seven was about to drain it but since that was the only source of water, Naruto stopped him; they then saved the water for something they need to do as part of the puzzles.

So they decided to return to the living room and saw that the fireplace had an active fire with something related to the music note from under the pillow; but with the flames, it was impossible to retrieve it. There was also a note on the table which showed the way to play the piano in case of no one knowing how. But that was still not saying the right tone and there was no time to experiment. Naruto and Seven then noticed that next to the door leading to the hallway was another one so they tried it; but not before seeing a blue vase on a small table in the corner, it was prefect for collecting water to dowse the fireplace with.

It was like a closet but without clothes nor even any hangers. It instead had a safe that Naruto ignored to check out the cabinet that the safe was resting on. It contained another music sheet and now everyone was another step closer to solving the lock on the door which is the way out. Now Naruto and Seven raced to the bathroom and filled the vase with water before draining the tub; inside the water was another music sheet. After using the water on the fireplace, it was now possible to retrieve the fourth piece of music.

Now Naruto combined the glass music and saw a music score; it had to be the one to get the door open. Naruto and Seven raced into the bedroom where Snake was waiting for anything. Naruto just turned to the piano and set the music score on the display. After trying the piano out, with Snake's help, Naruto was able to play the score which surprised everyone; the blonde sure is a quick learner, the one thing anyone can welcome in their party.

When Naruto was done, there was a new sound after the music; it sounded like when you use a key to unlock a door. Everyone turned to the door with the lock and Naruto and Seven noticed that instead of the color red it used to have, it had green bars now. Naruto walked up and tried the door and it yielded to his hand and to his strength. That was it, the way out has been found!

XXXXX

Once they got out of the ballroom and down the hallway, they noticed that it had an iron gate that separated them from another door that resembled their own. There was also double doors as well but only on set of them opened to see a strange room for sure. There were gambling machines, small tables, a fireplace, a counter with beer and glasses, and a contraction on the far wall that no one seemed to recognize.

"Is this a casino?" Seven asked and Naruto nodded while Snake was checking things out.

"We should look in here because there was a gate in front of those stairs." Naruto said and it was true, there was such a gate like it was a closed area for maintenance. The lock had a symbol like of the [Sun] and [Earth] doors and the elevator with the [Saturn]. But this one was more like the symbol for the female gender which Naruto remembered hearing from astronomy class that June had tricked him into taking in High School; that symbol was for the sister planet of Earth, Venus.

"Yes Naruto and shall we begin?" Snake said as he remembered placing his hand on the lock and feeling the symbol as well but before anyone could answer,

BANG!

The doors to the Casino they entered from had closed! Naruto charged for them but, "They are locked!"

"WHAT!? Let me at them!" Seven pushed Naruto away and tried to use his body weight and immense size into the doors but they didn't as much as budge. "Open up!" Seven kept on banging and banging until he felt like his arm was cracked marble. "Dammit."

"Looks like when we get out, we will also have to find the [Venus] key in order to progress." Snake said and with no room to argue, Seven stopped his actions and sighed deeply. Now was time to do it again after Door [5]; Seek A Way Out!

XXXXX

The first thing was that the fireplace had something out of place. There was plenty of firewood but they had no traces of it actually being used; like someone doesn't want a fire in the fireplace. On top was were some kind of glass sculptures and a couple of lights; there was also a card facing up in between. "Weird place to find a card." Naruto muttered and noticed from the famous game of cards with four symbols of a [clover], a [heart], a [diamond] and a [spade] each with a number from [one to ten] and also with a [king], a [queen], and a [joker]. This one was the [6] of spades.

Back to the rest on the fireplace, Naruto tried shining a light through the one to his right but couldn't make out the gibberish so he tried the other one to his left but before he could make out what they both said, he heard something fall down a deep hole or something. The closest thing to that will be the fireplace itself and more specifically the area with the firewood stacks in a pile and not being used. When Naruto looked, he saw a bag filled to the brim with something.

"Look at this guys. I found it in the fireplace." Naruto said to get the attention of his companions who went to see the filled bag. Naruto opened it to see, "Coins?" It was not the type you use in the market or a store or a restraint, no these were made to be used in a casino like this one; they operate the machines allowing you to test your luck and win all sorts of goodies if you are really lucky.

Naruto sealed the bag of coins and kept looking all over the room. He knew that every casino he found himself in, he will be asked to leave since he nearly won every single one of them out of business; they always took the money back as they refused to let gossip about a little kid being so lucky. And that is why Naruto doesn't like casinos that much.

In various places, Naruto found more and more cards each from the spade quarter of a full set. On tables, on counters and stuck onto one of the machines. Numbers like the six he found first then a seven, a four, and a five. With nothing left to find, other than that Seven can't handle any beer or wine, Naruto tried the gambling machines. In the end, only one of them worked, the one with the number [2] on as a label.

And just like from before, Naruto actually won a seven-in-a-roll which unlocked something and Seven pointed it out to the blonde. Naruto tried the bottom tray only to find another card and a key. That key had the Venus symbol on so they were good to go if they can get out of here. The card had spades too but the number [2] on it just like the machine label.

Then they wanted to check out the lock itself. It was a huge white dashboard with the ace card of spades stuck on the left, a huge [9] on the right and an empty card holder in the middle. It will seem that a certain key will be need in order to unlock the door. It will have to be a card that when added with the ace will equal nine. Unfortunately they didn't have such a card so they kept looking.

They soon noticed that there was a counter for playing the card game where two or more people bet on their money and whoever wins get to have all of the money placed on the table. But there was no need for betting money as there was the very card that Naruto needs in order to unlock the door, the [8] of spades. But Seven warned Naruto that if he can't place cards with a total that if greater than the card already placed, getting that card will be impossible. Thankfully there was another card to use, the [3] of spades; and with that along with the number two and number four card, it will equal nine, the number greater than eight. Once Naruto had placed those three cards, the glass seal on the number eight card lifted leaving the other three stuck on the counter.

With the number eight card, Naruto was able to combine that with the ace to form nine but then the lock actually retracted and showed three more slots for the other cards. With six, seven, and five left; Naruto realized something. Of course he didn't say a word as he placed them all in the slots which dinged correct on a quiz show. The door unlocked and the way out was found once again!

XXXXX

After getting out the Casino, Naruto used the key and successfully opened the gate. There were stairs on the other side so Naruto led his group down them. On the way, Naruto had a feeling of Déjà vu as the stairs lead to a massive hallway, with corridors of doors to either side and massive double doors at the end of the hallway and to their left.

Then Naruto saw something and couldn't help but say this, "Hey Seven. I have found Lotus's symbol on those elevators!" Seven of course was confused and followed Naruto's line of sight and saw indeed a set of elevators but the key card reader also had a symbol like the gate from before. It was the female symbol with what looked like horns on the top of the hoop. "See Seven, there is the symbol for a woman that Lotus is and the horns are there to show that she turns into a devil when she is angry!"

Seven then hollered with laughter and began to playfully ruffle up Naruto's hair as if bird's feathers. "That is a good one kid! I get it!" Snake just chuckled and scanned the symbol for himself.

"It is the symbol for Mercury, fastest and messenger of the gods themselves. His symbol shows the staff he uses for medicine and the horns are his wings that allow him to travel long distances in such short periods of time." Snake said but for some reason, Naruto felt like another funny comment based on that.

"So she beats you with a staff and sends you to heaven on her winged shoes?" Seven roared like a lion with all that laughter and ruffled Naruto even harder.

"Hahaha! Stop it kid or I will die of laughter!" Seven said with his breath breaking with the laughter until he claimed down and released Naruto who had begun to feel dizzy.

After ignoring this hall of doors and the elevator, Naruto's group went into the Double Doors and saw a massive room filled to the brim with beds on wheels. On that far back, there were four double doors; on the far right had the number [7], second from the right was [8] and on the fare left was [3]. It all was like a feeling that Naruto was here somehow and if this loose memories were right and Naruto whooped they weren't…"What is wrong with REDs!?"

That alerted Seven and Snake so they went up to Naruto who was glaring at one of the REDs. "What is wrong with you?"

"They don't work!" Naruto said and Seven could see that unlike the RED at door [5] that had the electronic letters that said 'Vacant', this one didn't. No matter who tried to place their hand on the scan panel component of the RED, nothing happened. And just when Seven was about to scream in frustration, the doors opened again.

"JUNE!" Naruto yelled as the said girl practically rocketed to him, glad that they went up again. The others were all shocked as to that it was true to what the blonde had said before. They did meet up again after the two doors! Yet something in those strange memories was something that Naruto hoped to prevent from happening; the disappearance of Snake! But this time, Naruto knew where Snake was but didn't want to bring down everyone's mood so no one will go through the number three door and get the single key. No this time will be different because he will be going through, "Door Seven."

End of Chapter 8

 ***That was a dozy for sure since the times I play this game, I only go through door five once so its details were still a little fuzzy. I took until today to get them all out of my system and onto this chapter.**

 **Hope it is good and have a nice day!***


	9. The Operation Room

999

The Operation Room

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or 999.**

 _Previously on 999: 9 Shinobi Behind 9 Doors with 9 Hours,_

" _JUNE!" Naruto yelled as the said girl practically rocketed to him, glad that they went up again. The others were all shocked as to that it was true to what the blonde had said before. They did meet up again after the two doors! Yet something in those strange memories was something that Naruto hoped to prevent from happening; the disappearance of Snake! But this time, Naruto knew where Snake was but didn't want to bring down everyone's mood so no one will go through the number three door and get the single key. No this time will be different because he will be going through, "Door Seven."_

Naruto looked at everyone who gave their own responses to that answer of his. Lotus was smiling that she got the blonde to see her way. Ace was no different since it didn't matter to him that much. Santa and Seven didn't care, they were able to get somewhere. June was worried, she is still not going to be with Naruto again and maybe this won't be like the first two doors. Clover was still down that her brother is still missing.

"Alright, that is what I am talking about. And it looks like you are with Seven and Clover Naruto." Lotus said, proud with herself that didn't help. She just went over to Door [8] along with Santa and June. Naruto just stayed behind with Clover and Seven. The blonde then went to Clover and hugged her, not caring how she will react.

"I am sorry that we couldn't find your brother but he couldn't have wander into one of the numbered doors so he must be still somewhere on this ship." Naruto said to Clover, "We'll find him. I am sure of it."

"How…?" Clover finally spoke in a small, broken tone of a girl who just watched her favorite doll fall to pieces. "You couldn't find him so how do you know he is alive?"

"Because someone wanted one of us to think so. They even made sure that if we do, the truth will come to light. Zero must want one of us to think that Snake is dead." Naruto responded.

"B-but Zero is on this ship…right?" Clover said and Naruto just smiled; normally he will taunt those who will ask such stupid questions but Clover was about to break down.

"If he wasn't he is sure giving off signs that he is. Remember had Zero always addressed where we are as 'this ship'?" Clover nodded. "Will you do the same from somewhere else to people on your ship?" Clover then did something that Naruto was hoping to do; she giggled and smiled.

"No. Thank you Naruto, I needed that. Let's go." Clover seemed to have found something to cheer her up and she went to Door [7] where Seven was already waiting. Naruto seemed to be at wits end trying to make the best of it all so he joined them at the door. They then verified their numbers at the REDs.

When the door opened, there was only nine seconds until it will close again. That was the time for Naruto to see June again. After staring at each other in the door ways, they then raced inside. Just as the doors were closing and the familiar and daunting beeping of approaching death was upon them.

"Where the hell is the RED!" Seven started to panic and the group hurried to look around the hallway that was on the other side of Door [7]. Then there was the blue device just on the other end directly across the hallway.

"There! Hurry!" Naruto yelled and his companions raced towards the DEAD that was near a wooden door. They just managed to verify their numbers there and Seven pushed down the lever with all his might. Then the beeping had halted, the denotation had been reset and stopped for a second time.

"*whew*…just how we can get used to this…?" Seven was sweating very greatly from the experience and he got up wiping his forehead clean. Clover just had to ruin it by teasing him about the whole thing. This had stirred up an argument between the two,

"ENOUGH!" Naruto released a yell that shook the hallway and got his companion's attention. "That is enough out of any of you. We are not getting out of here by fighting, we need as much people as we can to get out. You do want to escape right?" The two nodded in shame, "Good, now wait here while I look for any way out of this hallway." Not waiting for any response, Naruto left them to check out the rest of the hallway behind door [7].

The first thing he saw was the other side of the door that won't budge, no surprise. When Naruto turned left, he was greeted by an iron wall that looked like it won't move and that was it. Naruto then returned to the wooden doors that Seven was knocking on. "So this is only way to go right?" Seven didn't even look at Naruto who just nodded and looked up to see if this door had a label as to where it will lead. There was a plague that said, 'Operation Room'. "An operating room huh? I have seen this on the TV shows, there are almost nasty stuff in this rooms and even nastier stuff happening in there."

"No doubt you are thinking they have an actual living being in there are you?" Naruto said assuming and Seven just roared with laughter. Naruto could have sworn to hear a low giggle from behind; it could have come from Clover but she looked no different when Naruto turned to glimpse at her face. With all that in mind, Naruto braced himself and pushed the doors open.

Inside was a large room with more and half of the space covered by a thick, nearly complete circle of sheets. Clover then hurried to the entrance and screamed. "EEEK!" Naruto and Seven raced to see what was wrong and they both saw a human shape and sized body on a table.

"Is that…!" Seven started to panic until he noticed something off about the body. It looked so pale and smooth with no warts or spots. It was like a,

"That is just an operating dummy. They are used to train surgeons in practice surgeries." Naruto said with Clover and Seven feeling a little shameful that they didn't see it at first. Naruto was wondering if this doll was part of the puzzle.

With no other surprises left, it is time; time to Seek A Way Out!

XXXXX

Naruto was to see more of this area that must be used for operations as a means of privacy. The group noticed another table but was covered in a white cloth, a cabinet filled to the brim with chemicals, a human model, a table filled with rusty tools, another table but with clay objects on and a strange stove that seemed to be of no help. Investigating the table with the cloth on, there was another doll that only had the head and some of the torso compared to the male and complete doll.

So they tried to see if there is something on the tool and clay tables, they found a scalpel and a pair of scissors. Then Naruto noticed that there was something off about the model, like there is something that is not supposed to be there; something to be removed. Using the scissors, Naruto was able to remove a misplaced organ that resembled a liver; afterwards, he used the scalpel to slice it open. Inside he found a key.

"This doesn't look like a key to the astronomical numbers." Naruto remarked on how bland and normal it was.

"Maybe it is only supposed to be used in this room…" Clover suggested and this time, Seven agreed.

"I did check the other doors as soon as we got in here. They were all locked." Seven said so Naruto decided to check them out. The key worked in both the door near the entrance and on the other end of the room. Deciding that it should be the one closes to the wooden doorway, Naruto opened it to see a closest with cabinets and chemicals like in the operating area.

In the middle was a table with a toolbox that had the strangest lock for any toolbox; it asked for three digits as the combination to open the box. In front of it were two bottles that seemed to ooze a blue substance and a red substance in their respective bottles. There was also a note in front of the toolbox. It said of all different chemical names with the first three that equaled numbers but the other three had only question marks.

With Seven and Clover checking out the various chemical names and telling Naruto of their nickname that tells of the various elements used in all of them. It all added up to (349) which successfully opened the toolbox. Inside was the right arm of a life sized doll along with a very realistic fake heart. It was clear that there is going to be a search for body parts if they want to get anywhere out of this room.

But when Naruto placed the parts in his arms, he noticed Seven looking at some of the bottles and picked up on in his hand. Naruto asked what is was and Seven twisted the label to show it said, 'Ethylene Diamine Tartrate'. "So what has it gotten you so interested Seven? Is it that you have gotten some of your memory?" Naruto asked; it was true, back in the 1st class room, Seven complained about some memory loss that he seemed to experience ever since he first woke up here.

"Yeah. I remember something about this stuff. I don't know why it is among medicine bottles because it is not medicine." Seven said in his gruff tone and Naruto wanted to hear what it is actually. "It is more like an industrial-strength detergent. They must have used this stuff to clean their messes up. Not that I will find anything that will confirm anything in this room."

"So how did you learn about this stuff, this EDT?" Naruto asked and this time, Seven was able to give a good answer.

"I heard a story about EDT. It happened 50 years ago." Seven started, with a drifting look on his face so Naruto said nothing and listened to what Seven has the say. "There is this factory, somewhere in America, making old EDT crystals. They were makin' it to sell as industrial-strength cleaner, like I told you before. But…

A year after the factory started up… Somethin' strange started to happening with the crystals they were building. Water molecules started attaching themselves to the EDT crystals. This made 'em into some kind of mutation of the original crystals, called a "hydrate".

Once the crystal turns into a hydrate, though, it's useless as a cleaner. The factory had to just dump the crystals—as a hydrate, they were useless. But it didn't end there. After that day, the same thing started to happen in EDT factories everywhere, even ones nowhere near that first American factory.

They'd been making crystals the same way, with the same materials and the same equipment and environment. But now, all of a sudden, every single crystal they formed turned into a hydrate.

In fact, ever since that day, no factory anywhere has been able to make a pure EDT crystal. Even in EDT research done years before, they'd never gotten a hydrate. But after it happened at the first factory, it just…spread…"

Seven then came to end of his story, with Naruto listening to every word. "Thank you Seven. I think that I will remember that story." Naruto said which got the puzzled and head scratching Seven to smile.

"HEY!" Clover's voice shot out from outside the medical room. "Are you just going to stay in there for hours!? Come on!"

"Sorry! We're coming!" Naruto yelled through the door and that was enough to silence her. Seven and Naruto nodded and left the bottle on the shelf before leaving the room altogether. They then decided to try out the remaining locked door with the locker key they found.

After passing through a hallway on the other side of the second door that is far away from the double wooden doors, they came across some kind of office. There was desk with writing tools but the closet was something strange for sure. The doors won't open and each of them had a different color on them.

Across from them, there was a table that had a glass cylinder where they place liquids in experiments but there was also some kind of device that the cylinder was placed on. One end was some kind of flashlight and on the other end was a screen of sorts. Naruto tried the device and the flashlight shined a beam of normal light that halted once it reached the screen.

Then Naruto remembered that he still had the bottles of colored substances. He suddenly had the idea of using the red bottle and poured some of that substance into the cylinder; after shining the light again had caused the light to… "It turned red!" Clover shouted like an excited kid on a field trip. Then there was some kind of faint sound coming from the closet, like something clinked open. Naruto then released that the door with the red square on it had unlocked when Naruto caused the screen to revive a red light. Inside was a right doll leg like to the others. After using the blue substance to turn the light blue, the closet opened to reveal a left doll leg. There was only the purple door left and Naruto then tried something; he combined the two colors to make a purple light and it opened the door to reveal a realistic stomach of a human doll.

With the doll parts in their hands, Naruto saw that the desk had a drawer. Inside he found a sheet with the man doll in the operating circle and a female one with labels on body parts he and his group kept finding. It said to have them all at different weights for some reason. With only the door leading out to be locked, they returned to the operating circle to perform some kind of experiment they are supposed to do.

After finding the missing piece to the female doll on a third table to be the chest, the group placed the pieces on the second table that he a cloth over it. They then realized that the nothing has happened. Naruto went through the paper he found in the desk and saw that both tables had scales on them which showed the weights to be not like the ones on the paper. That meant that some parts will have to be replaced in order to get this to work.

It turned out that the opposite arms and the hearts were the ones to be switched in order to make the weights just like on the piece of paper. Then there was that familiar sound of something clinking open. And it seemed to come from the table with the man doll. Checking it out, Naruto was overjoyed to find a key revealed in a hidden compartment. "Alright! We are out of here!"

Seven was overjoyed and raced all the way to the room with the door that the only one left locked. The keyhole had the astronomical symbol for [Jupiter] which was like a [4] but the upper left bar was like a [2]. Still, Naruto noticed that Clover was still staring at the man doll, like it was something she couldn't ignore or stop being interested in. "Are you okay Clover?"

"He is dead. Isn't he?" Clover said in an instant unlike the other times which caught Naruto over guard. Then he started to smile, not a sad one or a forced one but somehow he pulled a genuine smile in front of Clover.

"You are the cutest little sister anyone can ever ask for." Naruto started to say, "You have the best imagination in the world." Clover was just confused but at least she wasn't sad anymore. "Your brother is a big boy Clover. He will be fine. I am sure of it. Zero is a big bully to separate you two and we are going to find him we can make him stop. And you will be the one to hit him where you will like okay?" Naruto finished and Clover started to brighten up at the blonde's words and she even started to giggle in a naughty tone.

"Thank you Naruto." Clover said and Naruto just nodded. "Likes go so we can find Zero and make him pay for all this!" Clover then walked off like a kid who was granted the right to get ice cream with some money to spread on a three scoop cone with her favorite flavors. Naruto just chuckled at the sight and caught up with them at the door. He used the Jupiter key to unlock the door as simple as that. The Way Out Has Been Found!

XXXXX

After getting out of the operation room and the two stories in the back of his head, Naruto ran until a map was found just like in those strange memories from before. It covered the entire 'C Deck' which showed that the rooms all led back to the hospital room after all. But with the key found, they are definitely getting somewhere.

"Naruto?" The blonde turned to see a familiar face of whom ran into Naruto's arms in happiness. Naruto smiled as he recognized the certain warmth of the figure hugging him as he hugged her too.

"Nice that you are okay June." Naruto said and waited. Waited until,

"What the fuck? How…? What the hell is this crap? I thought that we will at least find Door [9] through the two doors but we are going in a circle?!" Santa ranted as he saw the development and even looked at the map that Clover found.

"It will seem that way but let's go back and tell this to Ace. He is waiting for us to get him." Naruto said and everyone just grunted went through the door with a number. There, in the hospital room, Ace sighed as he heard the stories.

"So the doors led to an Operational Room and a Laboratory Room. They both didn't lead to Door [9] but instead had keys right? The Jupiter and Earth key." Everyone nodded. "When I said that I will wait for you to come and get me, it happened much earlier than I first thought."

"But we still haven't Snake. And there is just on more room left." Naruto brought up and no one argued about that.

"I am going in there." Clover said with newly found confidence. She will go anywhere if it meant finding her brother.

"Very well I am coming too." Ace said, "I have rested enough and I don't want to be a bother any longer. Besides, without me no one was able to get into door [3] anyway." Ace said with Naruto having this strange thought through his head,

'Oh yeah?' It confused Naruto greatly and tried to forget about it. "Then Seven?" Naruto tried to clear his mind by addressing the massive man, "Can you go with those two? They need you." Seven then looked at the two and they nodded, after all Seven will be needed along with one and four in order to make twelve which has a digital root of [3].

When the trio verified their numbers at the RED, they entered the number [3] door and disappeared after the door closed when the nine seconds were up. For the while, the others waited for them to return based on the layout of this deck according to the map they found. After a while, the door with no number on did open and the trio emerged from it; this proved that the map was right about the any of the doors ultimately leading back to the same place. But there was something wrong about their expressions.

When Naruto got close to them, "What happened?" Even though the memory was still sketchy, it was still there and somehow Naruto knew what their answer will be.

"We found Snake." Somehow that didn't raise hope in the atmosphere, their expressions were quite the opposite and Snake was not with them. "He is dead."

End of Chapter 9.

 ***Thanks for all the praise. I do work hard on this chapters and I just wish I can keep working on this story and finish it.***


	10. The Boiler Room

999

The Boiler Room

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or 999.**

 _Previously on 999: 9 Shinobi Behind 9 Doors with 9 Hours,_

 _When the trio verified their numbers at the RED, they entered the number [3] door and disappeared after the door closed when the nine seconds were up. For the while, the others waited for them to return based on the layout of this deck according to the map they found. After a while, the door with no number on did open and the trio emerged from it; this proved that the map was right about the any of the doors ultimately leading back to the same place. But there was something wrong about their expressions._

 _When Naruto got close to them, "What happened?" Even though the memory was still sketchy, it was still there and somehow Naruto knew what their answer will be._

 _"We found Snake." Somehow that didn't raise hope in the atmosphere, their expressions were quite the opposite and Snake was not with them. "He is dead."_

"What do you mean he is dead?!" Naruto roared at them, "Where is he!?" Everyone peered in for answers too.

"In the shower room behind Door [3]." Ace said and when the others approached the door, he stopped them.

"Ace is right. I had feeling you wanted to see it for yourself so I placed a broom in the door to the shower room. I even placed a screwdriver I found into the door we just left, you can open the door. Just make sure you place the screwdriver back in as you're the door for now, it will allow you to get back." Seven explained and Naruto nodded, he checked out the door without a number and there was a screwdriver there, keeping the door from closing. He and the others went through the door which couldn't lock up when it couldn't close up.

Running down the hallway, they came across a door with a broom holding it open. Inside was a sight not one of them could ever forget. The very room stank of burnt flesh and blood. On the other side of the room was a sea of blood that was stained on the floor and wall. It was awful and June didn't want to go near it and neither did Lotus. But Naruto had the urge to get closer and see the body at a much better angle than the wall was providing.

When he did look, it was like the memories from the cell on the 'D Deck', of a man who died in a shower room. A man whose fate was sealed to be in an interior explosion. It all was the same. The legs bent in a weird wall. The stomach with a hole in it. The left arm had an ulna of pure white bone sticking out. Even the collapsed skull with some of the face on it. It was there and like there was no way to identify the ninth man behind door [5], there was no way to determine who this man was. Only the clothing provided the answer.

"That is Snake is it?" Santa said with the shivers caused the dreadful body sight. Naruto couldn't think of anything else. If he did try to deny it, where was the proof that this man who died wasn't Snake? Even if this man is not, where is Snake and why this body had Snake's clothes on? Was all this to fool someone? Naruto couldn't find an answer.

Later, after sealing the body in the shower room for good, it was time to decide where to go. Seven then showed that while looking for a way out of the shower room, a scanner key with the symbol of the [Mercury] sign on it. And with the Jupiter Key and the Earth Key, there were three doors to go. The door on the 'A Deck' with the number [1] that Ace and Clover wanted; the door on the 'E Deck' with the number [2] that Lotus and Seven wanted; and the door also on the 'E Deck' with the number [6] that Santa and June wanted. Now it was time for Naruto make his decision on where he will go.

"I choose door [6]. Clover let her brother out of her sights and he went missing. I am not risking June with this." Naruto said in a convinced tone but not everyone appreciated it.

"But then none of us can go into any of the doors!" Santa yelled, "Three, Six and Five make Fourteen and that digital root will be [5], not [6]!" He ranted with everyone agreeing but Naruto just smirked.

"So? Ace will go with us and the others will go through Door [1]." Naruto said blandly and everyone did the math; 8 + 7 + 4 = 19, 1 + 9 = 10, & 1 + 0 = 1. That worked out, just not in the way anyone had wanted. Clover was no different, emotionless ever since the accursed discovery behind Door [3].

The walk to the elevator on 'B Deck' and going down to the 'E Deck' was quiet for sure. No one spoke a word all the way to the dirty steel door with the number [6] emblazoned on it with red paint. The only sounds they heard besides their footsteps on the ground was the sounds of their number verifying on the RED, then the sound of the lever creaking against the metal that kept the whole device in place. The door then squeaked like a dying mouse for the gang to race through before it closed on them with a thunderous slam. Then there was, for the three time to them; the haunting beeping of their bracelets.

After catching the DEAD in the corner of his eye, Naruto relied everyone to follow him all the way to the blue colored device. They just barely verified their numbers and pulled the lever which halted the beeping and reset the detonators to back to 90 seconds. Now the hallway had no beeping, no squeaking or thumping of footsteps. Just the sound of heavy breathing from startled hearts through vigorous exercise.

"Just how many times will it take until this nightmare is over?" Naruto was finally able to speak some many words after several minutes of catching his breath.

"I guess enough times will be the closest answer." June muttered after trying to do the same. Everyone else were so out of breath, they could barely even stand up straight. Still they followed Naruto and June through the hallway until a steel door with a bar lock that one needs to turn in order to open.

When Naruto did move that heavy bar lock, the door opened to a room that tore away their breath again. It was very vast, enough to fill in a lake of water if not for the stairs, giants iron machines and other appliances. It was a… "Engine room." Naruto muttered and this companions just nodded in response, not caring if the blonde noticed or not.

They wanted to get a closer look at these engines. It was an older model that ran on burning coal supplied by the workers from crates filled with coal pieces. It was all like the original Titanic since the time period matches perfectly. But then Naruto sensed something that caused him to shift his glaze Hinata and for a good reason; she was fainting with a high fever again!

"Where that fever come from!? Are you okay?!" Naruto yelled and Hinata weakly smiled.

"I do feel a little dizzy, my legs feel they turned to rubber. I just need to lie down. Please don't worry about me." Hinata tried to say but her running high temp was not helping. Naruto reluctantly let her down near one of the cooler walls of this room so at least she is away from the heat.

Now it was time, for the third time for the Blonde today; Seek A Way Out!

XXXXX

After Naruto made sure that June was settled and comfortable as she slept her fever away, he noticed that there was machine near their location. It was a conveyer belt machine to move something along. "They used this to deliver more coal to the workers, to feed the coal machines." Ace explained and Naruto just nodded. Then he noticed a panel on the side, he wanted to see what was drawing him to it. It turned out that there was a space that was empty. With three bar carvings on the lower left corner for some reason.

With nothing left to find, Naruto looked around the machines. Each of them had supersized gear that was copper, silver, and gold respectively. Something was definitely off about them, who needed gears of different metals? But no matter how hard they tried, the boys could even budge the gears. There was another way of doing this and it has to be found or getting out will never happen.

On the end of the space between the boilers and the wall they faced, Naruto chuckled at the assuming saying of Santa who spotted a pile of sandbags; he called a 'secret snowman meeting'. Ace was the one serious enough point out what they really are. Still the sandbags were used as replacement weights for iron and steel weights, they can be part of the puzzles. That box attached to a rope might be as well.

But it was time to try the stairs opposite to it all. There was a door there, might be the exit. But instead of a card reader or a keyhole, there was this stand that had the imprint of three overlapping circles. That meant the key was in the shape; the door won't open until the key is placed in right.

Now it was time for the other set of stairs that reached greater heights than the first set that ended at the door. Half way up was an electronic board that caused nothing to happen no matter how much anyone pulled the triggers; something just hasn't happened yet that will fix this problem. Meanwhile, the others walked further up the stairs to the catwalk located the highest in the boiler room.

There, at the top, were three doors with the order from the far left: (ABC). It would seem that these go to the other side but only to their portions, not the entire catwalk on the side. Since the cat walk to either side was blocked by piles of boxes, these doors were the only thing to get to the other side.

"So which door will be first?" Santa asked and he couldn't believe the answer that was given to him.

"How about 'C'? With plenty of 'A's and no 'B's in our names, let's give it a fair chance." Ace replied with the most stoic face the old man could muster. Naruto just laughed, and Santa sighed; it will seem that he was the one that wasn't given a fair chance. So they did Door 'C'.

When they made it through, it would seem that there was indeed less space than on the other side. Boxes stopped them from entering the space behind the other doors. The only thing they could approach was a pulley which had a box attached to its rope. But there was no wheel to operate the pulley. So they gave up on door 'C' for now and decided to try the door to the other side to this pulley; door 'A'. There, a pulley that had nothing attached to its rope but did have a wheel that came of rather easily; this wheel didn't go with this pulley and should go to the other one.

When they tried it, the wheel snapped in place and moved the left which allowed the pulley to lower what was in the box. So it was time to go through the door again and down the stairs. Santa and Ace still held Naruto back by expressing something they never thought of before; they felt like they haven't eaten anything in who knows how long, that is why they are exhausted and starving like Guinea Pigs. Naruto had thought hard on it but wanted to get out as quickly as he could so the blonde placed this to the back of his head.

It turned out that the pulley was above the conveyer belt machine. Inside the box attached to the rope was something that looked like a portable control panel in a prefect square shape. The same as in the empty space on the machine. There was even bumps on the back left bottom corner that also matched the holes in the empty space. Trying, Naruto found that the power control device snapped in like puzzle pieces. Activating it, the machine started to sprout out coal for the nearby empty boxes to contain.

"So we should use these coal boxes to fuel the engines! That is hot and dirty work!" Santa ranted but no one responded so he just sighed like a defeated teacher to her rebellious class. He helped out carrying the heavy boxes that Naruto and Ace had already started to carry and unload into the coal burner engines.

"I am helping!" The boys turned to see June, despite her running fever, was standing up and just barely lifted a box of coal with her unstable body and limbs. Naruto had just dumping on empty so he went over to June and took the full box of coal from her. "I said that I will help!"

"You still have a fever and tell me, was standing with a fever and a heavy box in hand actually comfortable?" Naruto and June just looked down in shame with her blush mixed in with her heated fever face.

"No…but I can't stay just sitting around doing nothing while you guys run all around looking for a way out." June said with a stubborn tone despite the heat and pain surging through her body at every word and as much a single twitch and make her shudder in pain. After the coal was placed in, June was placed back where she can rest her fever away. Naruto had a feeling on what to do next.

Even though he never found out what the 'B' door led to (and he had a better idea on what), he went to the control panel halfway up. He then tried the lever that covered in a red outline; which was suitable since the other levers didn't much as budge when he tried it the first time. When that lever was pulled upward, the engines had roared to life with all those coal to burn.

"Now what?" Ace asked and Naruto was thinking about it until he noticed something. The three colossal gears started to move! They rotated until they stopped for good, Naruto had to see why. When he reached the first gear made from gold, there was a circle in an imprint on the gear that matched the keyhole to the door out. After retrieving it, Naruto had to check out the other gears and found similar circles in the imprints on the copper and silver that also matched the keyhole and the golden gear.

Taking the circles from the gears to the keyhole and with the other guys following, Naruto tried them out until he was able to realign the red lines into the Star of David which opened the door. But they couldn't leave June behind. Santa and Ace volunteered to watch over the door and use the key again when Naruto returned with June.

When Naruto arrived where June was, he saw that June's temperature had lowered to a more comfortable set. It will seem that the rest did help with the fever! "That's great June! Then we can get out of here!" Naruto got excited and took June into his arms, to lift her up from the ground.

"W-wait Naru-chan." Naruto could see that June was awaking from her long sleep. "I c-can walk." June was blushing that her best friend was lifting her like a bride.

"Sorry about that." Naruto also blushed and allowed June to stand on her legs. But what happened next was something that he never thought will happen and yet he felt like it did somewhere. June took Naruto by surprise, by kissing him on the lips. Naruto then felt like there was no fear or hesitation left in his system, he kissed her back.

It was soon time to part for the need for air so the couple just panted and looked at each other in loving eyes. "That was amazing June. I never saw you before with such boldness to do what you want."

June just nodded and enjoyed the warmth of Naruto's chest, it made the best pillow in the world to her. After a few moments, they heard Santa call them off rudely; that caused them to part in embarrassment that covered their disappointment. When they arrived back at the door, they found another rare sight. Santa was sitting on the stairs and looking at a photo with longing eyes.

"Who is in that photo?" Naruto just had to ask but Santa didn't response in the way he always did.

"My younger sister." Santa said to be simple. "My little, baby sister. Cute as a button and always could brighten up your day. She always did to me. I was like Santa Claus to her." That sent everyone's curiosity over the peak, "Every Christmas, no matter how little money we had, I always got what you wanted. She will always write Santa a note and I always told her that I will take this to the post office. With that letter, I always was able to get what she liked." This was a new Santa for sure. "But one Christmas, she asked for the one thing I didn't think I will be able to grant; she wanted for her and me to be together forever. I told her like I do every Christmas, that Santa will grant her wish and she hugged me like she always did when she got her present."

"Santa, you are a good brother. I am sure that your sister was happy to have you for an older brother." Naruto tried to comfort Santa but it seemed that nothing was going to stop the silver haired boy in punk's clothing and with dog like features from feeling sad. Still he smirked as a response.

"Yeah. I am proud to be that little girl's older brother but all that garbage meant Faith, Hope, Trust and Love. None of those ever granted what I really needed in life." Santa didn't realize it but Naruto was frozen as he somehow remembered Santa saying such things in another room on the ship entirely. But that only lasted a moment until heard Ace rearrange the pieces of the key again and the door opened a second time. Naruto forgot about that and took June by hand and left through the door with Santa and Ace.

XXXXX

They finally got out of the boiler room but it was clear they weren't out of the woods yet. There was a huge hallway on the door side of the door and when they came across another one, they opened it. When they did, they were greeted by such a sight, it was vast almost like the boiler room but it was no boiler room. Instead of machines and boilers, it had boxes and crates and ropes keeping them down. It was the storage bay, where they unload the various supplies or any cargo that is going where the passengers on the ship are going to. There was a fence cutting the entire room in half that was too high to climb on. There was also a spiraling stair case that led to a three floors catwalk, a door on the second one. Naruto and the gang decided that this door will be the one to get out of the cargo hold. But that wasn't the strangest thing at all, on the other side of the fence to them; there was a coffin. A fancy one on some of the crates. It was all out of hands and arms reach.

Now it was time like behind door [5], Seek A Way Out!

XXXXX

"What are these bags?" Santa asked seeing how there were sandbags just lying around for seemingly no reason other than littering. Naruto checked out one of them that was lying in front of a set of nine crates which also stuck Naruto as something weird. But as for what was inside the bags, it was an ID card for Seven with a profile image to go with it.

The other bags had ID cards of the people who participated in this game. June playfully teased Naruto about 'unsexy' her picture had made her but Naruto got her to blush when he retorted on how it made her gorgeous instead. Pretty soon, Naruto had found nine of the cards for each of the nine people including the Ninth Man. But before Naruto could try them out, "No June! NO!" Naruto sighed as he had to listen to the familiar ranting of Santa so he left the job to Ace who looked troubled because of it.

Naruto found the two near the fence, despite it clearly be electrocuted to keep anyone from climbing on it. June tried to get near but was shocked from the raw electric bursts. Naruto went to her and took June in his arms.

"Why are so reckless June? Do you want to get out that fast?" Naruto said in a gentle tone that made June shake in his touch and cry in shame at her actions.

"I am sorry Naruto. I hate it here. That is all. I want to escape." June spoke through her tears and despite being so reckless, Naruto and Santa couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor girl. She had to hear that despite their efforts to stay together, two of their own had died. Who will be next? And how we they die?

"It will be okay. We will protect you. We will get out. I promise." Naruto whispered to June's ear and she just lost her voice and broke into tears. She then nodded again and again before she managed to settle down enough to halt her tears. Naruto then left her with Santa and returned to see that Ace hadn't as much as placed a single card down.

"I'm sorry. I just can't do it. You do it." Ace said in a shameful tone like he is forcing himself to admit the truth about something dark about him; it must be that shameful. Naruto sighed and took the cards from Ace's hands and place them according to their bracelet numbers. They then opened to reveal nine pins each with a number [1 – 9] on the end. With that, there was nothing left to do on the ground level for now and it was time to try out the top of the stairs.

Gathering his group, they climbed the stairs and pass the door that was locked and to the control panel overlooking a machine that moves crates around. But without power, the control box couldn't make anything happen. It will seem that the way to unlock the power to the panel, Naruto had to use digital roots to light up the nine buttons. When he was finished, the last step was to make a magic square; a famous puzzle in which numbers from one to nine were sorts so either vertical or horizontal or even diagonal sets all add up the same number. After that was done, the control panel roared to life and now Naruto can use the machine behind the fence to move the movable crates to form a bridge of sorts to the fancy coffin.

When the bridge was made and it was accessible from crates stacked like a makeshift staircase, Naruto hurried to try it out and the others followed him. When they reached the coffin, it had no mummy inside, just a key and…a golden revolver. It was a model that fitted when in the time era of the Titanic and other cruise liners. But while everyone made their own remarks about it, Naruto noticed something about the revolver that caused him to close the coffin and kicked off the crates, for it to crash into the floor below.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Santa yelled in shock and anger again which made Naruto look down with a sad look on his face,

"Now no one can use it anymore." Naruto said and he walked this time from the sight of the broken coffin on the ground. The others just followed him and he opened the door with the key they found; for the record, it wasn't a key with an astronomical symbol like the others they take with them from the rooms.

No one was glad or celebrating but the result was something to be happy about; they have found the way out of the room!

XXXXX

After opening the door from the cargo hold, the gang found themselves on the 'D Deck' again. Just on the other side of a steel grate that separated a set of elevators. But that wasn't all there was to this hallway. There was something that stood out, a door. A door that was fancy like the one to the 1st class rooms on the 'B Deck'.

Since it was not numbered, the group decided to try it out. When they did, they were in for their greatest surprise today. When they entered the room, it was an altar like from the inside of a church but no one bothered with that. They were all looking at the door they were facing as soon as they entered. It had the one thing that they all were looking for, the number [9]. It was the Ninth Door! They had made it!

But without the others, the discovery meant nothing. So they used the elevators to hopefully meet up again at the main staircase. The others were there alright but something was wrong. Their expressions were nowhere near happy at all and Clover is not with them! "What is going on? What's the hell is wrong?"

Seven looked at Naruto and answered with a sadden tone that sent the whole world shattering down. "Clover is missing."

End of Chapter 10.

 ***There! All done! Just letting you now is that I have developed a temporary routine when it came to my updates. In order to finish this unpopular story faster for all your sakes, I am doing them and my other chapters but I will only make other updates after publishing two chapters of this one at a time.**

 **Once my story is done, then I will get back to updating my other stories. I even have another on that I am working on publishing. Hope you like it and have a nice day!***


	11. Bad Ending 2

999

Bad Ending #2

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or 999.**

 _Previously on 999: 9 Shinobi Behind 9 Doors with 9 Hours,_

 _After opening the door from the cargo hold, the gang found themselves on the 'D Deck' again. Just on the other side of a steel grate that separated a set of elevators. But that wasn't all there was to this hallway. There was something that stood out, a door. A door that was fancy like the one to the 1st class rooms on the 'B Deck'._

 _Since it was not numbered, the group decided to try it out. When they did, they were in for their greatest surprise today. When they entered the room, it was an altar like from the inside of a church but no one bothered with that. They were all looking at the door they were facing as soon as they entered. It had the one thing that they all were looking for, the number [9]. It was the Ninth Door! They had made it!_

 _But without the others, the discovery meant nothing. So they used the elevators to hopefully meet up again at the main staircase. The others were there alright but something was wrong. Their expressions were nowhere never happy at all and Clover is not with them! "What is going on? What's the hell is wrong?"_

 _Seven looked at Naruto and answered with a sadden tone that sent the whole world shattering down. "Clover is missing."_

"Missing!?" Naruto yelled like a parent after seeing one of the house windows broken by one of the children. "What the hell do you mean she is missing!? She was with you and you still lost her!?"

"I don't know! We thought she was still with us until she disappeared once we turned around!" Lotus yelled in her defense.

"Dammit! We finally found the ninth door and now we have to look for Clover! How are we all going to get out!?" Naruto yelled in frustration which brought hope only to Lotus and Seven who must have hit a dead end with door [1].

"You did!?" They begged and Naruto nodded,

"But without Clover, we all can't get out through the Ninth Door. I say we look for her!" Naruto said and he was meet with these answers.

"But we don't have the time! We only have an hour and a half!" Lotus protested while looking at the clock on the wall which said 4:30 A.M.

"So you want a little girl to die so you can escape!?" Naruto retorted and that silenced Lotus. "I say that we will look until 5 o'clock and if we can't find her, we will need to figure out who goes through Door [9] and they will try to figure out to get everyone else through the door. Okay?" Naruto proposed with at one that was daring everyone to challenge him; they just huffed and went into their own ways. Naruto did the same.

After a half hour had passed and now sign of Clover, Naruto returned to the altar to find no one there. He was getting worried, especially about June so he started to look for them. He started by using the elevator in the main stairway room which led to Door [2]. What he found had halted him in his tracks cold.

There, lying in a pool of blood, was Lotus. The one woman who challenged Naruto's ideas and all he ever did was shoo her away like a common housefly. He hurried to the body and found that the skin had started to turn cold and there was no breath or pulse. Naruto didn't know what to do until it happened. He felt a burning pain in his back, around his spinal cord and heard the sound of something that was all flesh being pieced; his own.

Losing strength in his legs, Naruto fell to the ground. He couldn't feel anything in his arms and his vision was losing sight. Naruto couldn't even move his head to see who had did this to Lotus and to him but he couldn't. Then his world died out, there was only darkness surrounding him like water only he was not drowning.

Naruto then saw a light drawing him in but this time, he saw something else. He saw himself! A copy of him that didn't seem to see him as they both were dragged by the light. The copy which seemed to be transparent like glass had then ran into him. Naruto then saw everything; door [4] that led to being trapped in a freezer, the accused door [3] with the dead body in the showers and then door [2] which led to everyone dead and yet someone managed to Naruto who was just approaching a submarine. Just like before when Naruto 'first' awoke in a cell of the sinking ship.

None of this made any sense as Naruto had to try and shield his eyes from the light glowing bright enough to blind him. Then he felt it again, like in a dream he was falling into some room and landing a very thin but comfortable bed.

XXXXX

Like waking up from a nightmare and to the shaking of an earthquake, Naruto fell from his bed and on the hard steel ground. But the pain was nothing to what Naruto was sweating from. He was dreaming about running into eight strangers as two of them died until he found another one who died; then he died as well. All of it made no sense, like a twisted sense of déjà vu.

After trying to make sense of this, the window to his room unleash a gusher of water, flooding the place! Naruto hurried through the puzzles and remembered just what happened before today. Naruto managed to get out of the room and ran up the ship and meant the other eight strangers that matched with his strange memories perfectly. Especially seeing Hinata again for so long and yet with the feeling that this is the first time he had seen her. Even the Ninth man who had held the one with the code name [Clover] hostage, forcing another by the code name of [Ace].

All that had set off the explosion behind door [5] and settled in the fear of suffering the same fate into everyone's hearts. Naruto managed to get everyone in the game and they separated into teams, he wanted to stay with Hinata so he chose door [4] and made it through the passenger quarters and into the kitchen but something she had brought up in the freezer had somehow had more impact than anything else yet; about Ice-9, the ice that won't melt until it reaches room temperature, the mummy who seemed to only be sleeping instead of dead. It all made Naruto remember it with all his might.

Now it was time for the three doors in the hospital room, Naruto feared door [3] because if he wanted to stay with Hinata or [June] as everyone called her, then they couldn't go anywhere else and that will be a waste of all that from 'back there'. Instead Naruto chose, "Door [7]."

End of Chapter 11.


	12. The Fire in the Laboratory

999

The Fire in the Laboratory

 **Disclaimer: I don't own 999 or Naruto.**

 _Previously on 999: 9 Shinobi Behind 9 Doors with 9 Hours_

 _Like waking up from a nightmare and to the shaking of an earthquake, Naruto fell from his bed and on the hard steel ground. But the pain was nothing to what Naruto was sweating from. He was dreaming about running into eight strangers as two of them died until he found another one who died; then he died as well. All of it made no sense, like a twisted sense of déjà vu._

 _After trying to make sense of this, the window to his room unleash a gusher of water, flooding the place! Naruto hurried through the puzzles and remembered just what happened before today. Naruto managed to get out of the room and ran up the ship and meant the other eight strangers that matched with his strange memories perfectly. Especially seeing Hinata again for so long and yet with the feeling that this is the first time he had seen her. Even the Ninth man who had held the one with the code name [Clover] hostage, forcing another by the code name of [Ace]._

 _All that had set off the explosion behind door [5] and settled in the fear of suffering the same fate into everyone's hearts. Naruto managed to get everyone in the game and they separated into teams, he wanted to stay with Hinata so he chose door [4] and made it through the passenger quarters and into the kitchen but something she had brought up in the freezer had somehow had more impact than anything else yet; about Ice-9, the ice that won't melt until it reaches room temperature, the mummy who seemed to only be sleeping instead of dead. It all made Naruto remember it with all his might._

 _Now it was time for the three doors in the hospital room, Naruto feared door [3] because if he wanted to stay with Hinata or [June] as everyone called her, then they couldn't go anywhere else and that will be a waste of all that from 'back there'. Instead Naruto chose, "Door [8]."_

Naruto looked at everyone who gave their own responses to that answer of his. Lotus was smiling that she got the blonde to see her way. Ace was no different since it didn't matter to him that much. Santa and Seven didn't care, they were able to get somewhere. June was worried, she is still not going to be with Naruto again and maybe this won't be like the first two doors. Clover was still down that her brother is still missing.

"Alright, that is what I am talking about. And it looks like you are with me and Clover Naruto." Lotus said, proud with herself that didn't help. She then turned to the door and Clover silently followed after her. Naruto just stayed and talked with June.

"I am sorry that we had to spit up but we really have no choice. Without Ace, we all can't go through any of these doors." Naruto brought which got him thinking; it was true about Ace who was the one who volunteered to stay behind as the sacrifice, why did he? If someone else would have stayed behind, door [3] will be done easily as well another one of the doors. So why? "Let's just put our trust in each other's groups and believe we will met up again. I have a feeling that these doors won't led to the number nine door. If we need to try more doors than I will join you this time." That last comment actually did the trick and June nodded, still disappointed but also hopeful to see her best friend again for the third time this evening.

Naruto joined Clover and Lotus and they all verified their numbers at the RED. Lotus pulled the lever around the same time as the second group did. That meant there was only nine seconds to see June for the first before another separation. It took less than nine seconds and then the two friends hurried into each door. Inside, Naruto hurried to find the DEAD and they found it to be near a door; after deactivating the detonators in their bracelets, Naruto read the label on top. It said 'Laboratory' which pretty much tells everything there is about the room on the door side of this hallway that was bland in color and had a dead end where the door was located so that was to be the only way to progress onto where it all leads to.

When Naruto finally opened the door, they did find themselves in a room that was in the shape of an 'L'; the room had a closed off area downstairs with glass panels that peered into it. Most likely for the head scientists to watch from a safe distance over the other scientist do the experiments. There were plenty of operational panels and two tables. One of them had a testing dummy on one of them with wires plugged into its brain.

"I will be in the other room if you need me." Clover said blandly as she forgo her companions and went into the lower room for some privacy.

"Wait Clover!" Naruto didn't have a good feeling about the bars that were in the upper area of the doorway. True to his fears, they fell down as soon as Clover was completely inside the experiment room. "CLOVER!"

"Naruto!" The duo tried and tried to remove the bars but they were bolted solid. "Naruto…" Clover started to cry like she had been bad and was found out by her parents. "Am I…?"

"You will just stay put and tell us what you can find in your room while me and Lotus looked around this one. We will get you out." Naruto said and by looking to his left and Clover's right, there was another door leading to the room where Clover was trapped in. She could see that door is able to be unlocked and used to free her.

Once Clover settled down and relaxed, she just went to bottom of the stairs and waited for Naruto to get her out. Meanwhile, it was time: Seek A Way Out!

XXXXX

Surveying the rest of the laboratory, Naruto saw that there were also equipment in the room. There were also some wires, a locker and a couple of computers but none of them worked. They seemed to not be connected to any power source. "Can you check out the room you are in Clover? I think we can get somewhere if we can get one of this computers to work."

"…Okay." Clover said in a low voice and she left for the other room. Naruto felt bad for Clover; first she had to lose her brother and now she is trapped in a scary room all by herself. The most she could do is what nay big girl can do; hang in tight and wait until Naruto asks of her to do something within the room she is trapped.

Meanwhile, the blonde was searching tireless for something to connect the computers to a power source within the walls. Finally, he found one. A black power cable that had a three pronged connector and a smaller connector that can only fit into an open port around the black computer. "This should help or at least do something." Lotus remarked when she got a good glimpse of this power cable.

Naruto ignored her and tried to connect he black computer but came to something that dashed his hopes; the power cable couldn't connect to the nearest outlet! It was the wrong shape for the power cable! Naruto was now back to square one again until Lotus spoke up, "All we really need is a plug that can be attached to the end of this power cable and fit into the power outlet." Naruto searched the whole room but couldn't one that Lotus described; so he turned to Clover's room and asked if she find something like this.

After a few minutes, Clover returned to the bars separating her from the others with a white plug of the very shape. But she had something else in her hand that she claimed to copy from the table that had no testing dummy on. It took a bottle of special ethanol that was so strong, it was able to erase the permanent markings on the table. It appeared to be a pound symbol with numbers on it. But Naruto just placed aside so he will be able to connect the black computer to power. The screen opened to show a box asking for a password!

Lotus said not to worry about it and Naruto found good reason because as soon as her fingers touched the keyboard, they went like bullets from a machine gun. They looked like blurs as to how fast they went. Naruto was impressed, it would seem that being in dancer's clothing said nothing about Lotus being a real Flash on a keyboard. Lotus teased Naruto about how this skill had made the blonde attracted to her; Naruto just politely denied, saying that he already had a girl he is interested in and how his status as a college student was just not for a woman 'as great and wonderful and helpful' as she is. Lotus ended off on a note which said she understood and wanted to be there when Naruto and his precious girl got married.

Eventually, Lotus was able to get in and the screen showed a layout of nine squares in the shape of a larger one. Remembering the piece of paper that Clover had gave him, Naruto was able to solve the puzzle. When this happened, the screen turned back again but to the left; the boxes which were only half green on the left are now all green. Naruto was able to open them and in one of the compartments, he found two keys. One of them fit into a computer machine while the other had an astronomical symbol like the other keys before, this time having the [Earth] Symbol.

Naruto then used the computer key to activate the larger computer which made a green screen and seemingly nothing else happened. Then Naruto spoke after a few minutes of thinking this over, "Okay. To get out, we need to start a fire."

"WHAT!?" Lotus made the same response Naruto had feeling he will be listening to, "Why a fire!? Are you trying to kill us!?"

"No, when there is a fire, no matter what, all the doors in the room unlock to let out the smoke. That is how we are going to get Clover out with the rest of us." Naruto said and went to the bars where Clover was waiting all this time, "Clover? Can you start one of the machines that is connected to the dummy? I think I have figured out the way out."  
"Okay!" Clover was clueless and started the machines which sent power to the dummy; something had happened when the power reached the dummy and sparks shot out of the wires. The sparks caught onto the flammable substances in the room and caused a fire!

{A fire has been detected. All doors are unlocked. I repeat, all doors are unlocked. Please evacuate.} A computer voice beeped into the room and Naruto was able to open the door to the experiment section from which Clover ran into his arms as the blonde closed the door on most of the smoke. Before they could catch their breath, Naruto opened the door before the smoke could escape through the bars.

Once the door to the laboratory had been closed, Naruto found Clover still in his arms, frightened by everything. He then felt a punch into the stomach that only made him flinch but recoiled anyway to make Clover feel better. She was angry that she was tricked into starting a fire even though it got them out. Lotus then slapped him on the face for the same reason but then kissed that same spot for trying so hard for them to get out. Lotus commented that any girl Naruto choose will be a lucky one.

XXXXX

Once they have left the laboratory, they ran down a hallway that led to a door similar to the ones with the number [8] on it. It was like it all lead back to the hospital room, just like Naruto had said before. "HEY!" A loud voice had alerted Naruto and his companions and they saw a second surprise in a row.

"June. I told you we will meet again." Naruto should have raised his voice in excitement but for some reason he could feel that way. It was like he knew it would happen and was not terribly excited that it did.

"Yeah you did." The girl in question said in shame that she had to doubt Naruto about it. Anyway, Santa interrupted them once again.

"I don't get it. I thought that one of the doors will at least led to the final door. But instead we are back to where we started." He said rather unhappy with how things turned out to be; not after seeing that Zero had both tricked them with the first set of doors and now he did it again with this set.

"I told you that Zero won't separate us for good so early in the game but I hope you found a key at least." Naruto said and June nodded before Santa took out one as well. They then returned to the hospital room and told Ace everything. But Naruto couldn't stop them from going into the reaming room not tried yet; the accursed door [3]. Like Naruto had feared, after a few minutes the group left the door with a number and told them what they had found. Naruto went along to verify something. There was something wrong about Snake's body but Naruto could get his finger on it.

But with that done, it was time to figure out which of the three doors left to investigate, reunite and try to find the ninth door. Naruto drew the choosing again and the six decisions were the same but his answer was,

"Door [1]."

End of Chapter 12.

 ***Hey everyone, my summer is going to be a dowse. It turned out that that today was meeting with my councilor on how I am going to get into George Mason. I was really hoping to spend the rest of the summer doing volunteer work in order to keep busy but instead, I signed up for another summer class.**

 **Also, when my fall semester starts in late August, I will be ignoring my work in hopes to adjust. When that semester is over and when January comes, I will be in the big stuff; George Mason was going to make me buckle down so I can never predict when I am going to make another update until I find myself some inspiration in what little free time I have. Please understand and be patient, I am still trying to be sure what will happen later in my life. Have a nice summer and enjoy it!***


	13. Who is Zero in the Captain's Quarters?

999

Who is Zero in the Captain's Quarters?

 **Disclaimer: I don't own 999 or Naruto.**

 _Previously on 999: 9 Shinobi Behind 9 Doors with 9 Hours_

 _Once they have left the laboratory, they ran down a hallway that led to a door similar to the ones with the number [8] on it. It was like it all lead back to the hospital room, just like Naruto had said before. "HEY!" A loud voice had alerted Naruto and his companions and they saw a second surprise in a row._

 _"June. I told you we will meet again." Naruto should have raised his voice in excitement but for some reason he could feel that way. It was like he knew it would happen and was not terribly excited that it did._

 _"Yeah you did." The girl in question said in shame that she had to doubt Naruto about it. Anyway, Santa interrupted them once again._

 _"I don't get it. I thought that one of the doors will at least led to the final door. But instead we are back to where we started." He said rather unhappy with how things turned out to be; not after seeing that Zero had both tricked them with the first set of doors and now he did it again with this set._

 _"I told you that Zero won't separate us for good so early in the game but I hope you found a key at least." Naruto said and June nodded before Santa took out one as well. They then returned to the hospital room and told Ace everything. But Naruto couldn't stop them from going into the reaming room not tried yet; the accursed door [3]. Like Naruto had feared, after a few minutes the group left the door with a number and told them what they had found. Naruto went along to verify something. There was something wrong about Snake's body but Naruto could get his finger on it._

 _But with that done, it was time to figure out which of the three doors left to investigate, reunite and try to find the ninth door. Naruto drew the choosing again and the six decisions were the same but his answer was,_

 _"Door [1]."_

"Okay then." Ace said, "So you, I and Clover will go through Door [1]. Meanwhile, June, Santa, Seven and Lotus will go through door [6]." No one argued. They all went to their doors, Naruto's group back to the main staircase and through the door with the Earth symbol above the keyhole, opening to a door with the number [1] on it while the other group used the [Mercury] Elevators to the door with the number [6] on it.

Like all the times before, they have stopped in front of the RED and then verified their numbers in succession. Ace then placed his hand on the lever and looked at Naruto and Clover. "Are you ready for what is going to come?"

They all nodded and that signaled Ace to pull the lever. The door then creaked open and the group charged inside. The beeping of the detonators placed in their bracelets soon chimed in the air. They looked frantically for their lives for the DEAD. It was found to be near a door at the end of the hallway.

After catching their breath, the group entered the door to see a room. A room filled with desks, seats and maps. Most likely a map room where the plot the next course of action for the ship and if that is so, there was must be a room where the staff make sure the ship is right on course. And just like that, there was a stirring room just on the outside of the door leading away from the direction of the numbered door.

Still that was a dead end since there was another door leading out of the stirring room. The problem was the unique looking lock that was nothing like a keyhole, a RED or a card reader. The outline was in the shape of something same enough to fit in one's hand. But unless the right object is used, there were only two room to explore. It was now time: Seek a Way Out!

XXXXX

Naruto returned back to the map room where Clover just started at her feet. All this must be tough as she was like a jar with just one more, very light tap that will start the final crack that will cause it to shatter. So Naruto just left her to try and take it while trying to find a clue in this room. It seemed that all these maps judging from the one on the wall and the ones in a drawer to the wall perpendicular to the wall map.

They show a ship goring from India, around Africa through the Cape of Good Hope, straight across the Atlantic to the East Coast of America, and going straight east to Great Britain. Each port had a label on it for some reason, on either map so Naruto took note of it. Then he found a ship's log describing the same route completely so Naruto kept it too. Then the blonde looked into one of the drawers to the desk, where the captain probably wrote down the route the ship took. There, he found a pocket watch sent to a random time that Naruto still took note of but then he heard a voice behind him that was not Clover's.

"May I see that pocket watch? It may be broken, I did handle some of them in my past." It was Ace but what was he doing here? "Is that a problem?" Naruto wanted to say yes but suddenly he said instead,

"No problem but…" Naruto stuttered out his answer against his will and Ace took the watch and left the room. The blonde couldn't stop the old man from taking his watch and he couldn't help but feel like he made a mistake that he can't make up. Naruto still shoved that to back of his head.

Soon, there was nothing left to find and Ace had finally returned the watch but Naruto had a bad feeling about it; like there was something else to this whole thing. Still the blonde took it and walked into the other room with the wheels. He started looking again.

The room had a device that allowed the captain to control how the engine worked with various modes that manipulated how hard the ship's engines worked. But it was missing the handle that allowed the change to be made. So Naruto started looking again and noticed that the stirring wheel was move-able and that must be part of the puzzle, 'I wonder…'

Naruto then moved the wheel according to the maps and log he found the other room and something had happened. The top handle on the wheel had fell off into Naruto's hands and there was a blackboard with times and locations on it with white letters. Still Naruto wanted to see what will happen when he completed the second half of the puzzle because he was only able to do the direction from the maps with the wheel; with the steam engine device, he could do the speeds and that was what Naruto did.

Then the black message board showed only one time while the rest was all black again. That must be the real time for something. Then Naruto remembered the pocket watch that Ace claimed to fix; he set to the time shown on the black board and placed it in the keyhole that was the same shape and size, it was a perfect fit. The door then unlocked and was able to open so Naruto send Ace to grab Clover so they all will go through the door. The Way Out Has Been Found!

XXXXX

After unlocking their way through the door with the strange lock on it, they entered the doorway and found a room filled with weird equipment, headphones and other gadgets that can't be found just anywhere. Ace called it a communications room where they send signals to other ships in times of emergence either sent or received. There was still one more door to investigate but what was on the other side was something to haunt the group for sure.

There, lying into a pool of blood, was a man dressed fully in the clothes of early century ship captains perfectly. His skin was already losing color and his muscles looked like they dried up like paint in the wind. On his wrist was a bracelet like the others and next to his body was an axe, the blade still covered in blood; somehow, this man had just recently died but who could have reached him before the group and kill him?

There was a third door but like what was to be expected, it was locked and the lock looked like an electronic one that needed a combination in order to allow the door to open. But since they still haven't tried out the communications room, they split up again to cover more space but someone would have to stay with the dead body.

XXXXX

Clover ultimately decided to stay with the body while Ace was given the communications room; Naruto didn't pay it any mind so he started searching. He then found a half music box that played a horrible tone until Naruto noticed the cylinder that had mounds to strike the strings and make the tune was wrong. The bumps were shaved of their tops to form dots and dashes for some reason.

Naruto took the cylinder and placed it into his pocket and noticed that there was desk with monitors stacked onto each other. Each of them showed a different part of the ship, no doubt that someone in this room was able to keep track of everyone; which can also allow Zero speak with them at the Main Staircase! Then the monitors on top turned all black and the four on the bottom had started to show 'Z', 'E', 'R', 'O' of the word 'ZERO'. "This guy likes to stroke his ego and play with us." Naruto muttered at the sight and left the monitors to check the desk drawer, it had a piece of paper that went like this;

012345678

0123456789abcdef

0123456789abcdefghijklmn

0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuv

Naruto was confused to the brim on all this so he pocketed and told Clover he was going to search the communications room. She just nodded and stayed in the room with the dead body. There, Ace was still looking throughout the room and couldn't find anything worth pocketing. Naruto was not certain because I did found plenty.

He found a piece of black paper and bottle of ink. He had to try something so he covered the cylinder from the captain's quarters in ink; he then rolled the cylinder on the paper like rolling pin on a bread dough. The paper then had dots and dashes on it like Morse Code and luckily for them, there was a machine to send out a signal in that code. Naruto tried it out and the drawer below it all made a sound of unlocking so Naruto checked it out.

He found a red book inside that said 'ALICE' which Naruto had the unstoppable urge that had taken him by surprise, "Isn't this supposed to say 'ALL ICE'?" Ace asked why but Naruto ignored him, trying to figure it out on his own. Then Naruto opened the book and much to his dismay, there was nothing but hieroglyphs; a language that no college ever taught him to read. Then something fell between some of the pages of the book, it was a key card like the ones before. This one had the symbol of the male symbol but the arrow was pointing upwards completely and not to the side; inside the circle was a dot. After a little while, Naruto remembered from astrology class that this symbol is off Uranus; the seven planet from the Sun.

None of this was going to get them out but Naruto had a feeling that it was worth it keeping them so that is what he did. Then he realized that the monitors showing the letters of 'ZERO' were the clue to the door and placed in the combination on the door as goes:

[35 14 27 24]

And with that, the door opened with a mighty sizzle. Naruto sent for Clover to get Ace this time because they were going to get out for real. Naruto remembered trying the other doors and they all led to him dying so this one has got to be the right one. Or is it?

XXXXX

After escaping from the Captain's quarters and leaving the dead body behind the door, they went on the hallway hoping to find something but then they noticed that there was only two of us. Clover was gone! Naruto was about to look for her but then saw the pink haired girl in the hallway still looking down but there was something different about her. She was clutching her pockets that clearly had something inside, like she wanted to hide it better.

"Clover, what is in there?" Naruto asked, no room for more nonsense and under such short time. She just avoided the subject and hurried after Ace but Naruto could have sworn to have noticed a bump under her jacket in the shape of the ax that killed the man in the captain's quarters; had he paid more attention, he could have known of the tragedy was planned to follow all this.

When they reached the end of the hallway, they found themselves back at the main staircase all over again. The others were there too and they actually had good news; they were able to find the ninth door after going through door [6]! Looks like they were going to get out but there was something that popped up and ruin it all. "We still haven't tried door [2]. Maybe we need to try it out, to see what we might miss." Clover said in a quiet tone that made everyone be sympathetic.

Naruto couldn't tell everyone about his suspicions when Santa, Seven and June went with Clover in order to enter the door with the number [2] on it. For a while, Naruto waited for them to find their way back but then something had happened down there and the elevator seemed to roared back to life. But that can't be right.

And the sight that followed wasn't and neither was it pretty. Clover just stood there with her pockets looking they were about to explode from over capacity; her jacket was also covered in blood in small specks. But no one else was in the elevator with her. "Clover? What happened?" Naruto approached her and asked with concern but Clover just smirked and released what was inside her pockets; and the sight froze Naruto in his tracks as if he was covered in ice.

End of Chapter 13.

* **There you have it, the third time they tried to get out and this happens instead. What is wrong with Clover? Where are the others that went down with her? What is with that smile on her face? Find out in the next chapter!***


	14. Bad Ending 3

999

Bad Ending #3 and The 'Real Path' is About to Shine!

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or 999.**

 _Previously on 999: 9 Shinobi Behind 9 Doors with 9 Hours,_

 _When they reached the end of the hallway, they found themselves back at the main staircase all over again. The others were there too and they actually had good news; they were able to find the ninth door after going through door [6]! Looks like they were going to get out but there was something that popped up and ruin it all. "We still haven't tried door [2]. Maybe we need to try it out, to see what we might miss." Clover said in a quiet tone that made everyone be sympathetic._

 _Naruto couldn't tell everyone about his suspicions when Santa, Seven and June went with Clover in order to enter the door with the number [2] on it. For a while, Naruto waited for them to find their way back but then something had happened down there and the elevator seemed too roared back to life. But that can't be right._

 _And the sight that followed wasn't and neither was it pretty. Clover just stood there with her pockets looking they were about to explode from over capacity; her jacket was also covered in blood in small specks. But no one else was in the elevator with her. "Clover? What happened?" Naruto approached her and asked with concern but Clover just smirked and released what was inside her pockets; and the sight froze Naruto in his tracks as if he was covered in ice._

There, on the floor in front of him, Naruto looked at the red bracelets that were covered in blood but still revealed their numbers to be [3], [6], and [7]. Naruto knew whose those belong too and remembered what Zero said on how to remove the bracelets; either escape the ship or let your heartbeat reach zero and die.

As Naruto sat there on his knees and looking at the pile of bracelets with blood on them, he then felt something. His mind was about to burst with memories and realized that he had been played with something that probably looking at him with disappointment. No! He wouldn't go out like that without a fight.

"Clover! They were innocent! Snake wasn't killed!" Naruto brought himself to speak. "That man in the shower room wasn't Snake! Snake had a fake left arm and that man had a real one! Santa and Seven didn't kill him! Snake was never dead!" What happened next will haunt Naruto the grave; Clover, instead of saying sorry, laughed. Laughed like a madman with a bloody ax in hand.

"So? They died anyways and now I know that my brother was alive after all. Oh well. They couldn't come back and complain because I am leaving this with my brother. And since you have finally learned the truth and told me, here is your reward." Naruto was confused and scared at that Clover's maniacal smile of a murderer never left. Then Clover did something he will never expect for her; she kissed him on the lips! He then felt the greatest pain since seeing the remains of June only on his back. It felt hot, like lava oozing on top of him. He couldn't move at all, only see Clover leave while dragging the ax along with all the bracelets in hand. "Farewell Naruto. You could have been alive and been my new brother but I don't need another one in my life. You just aren't lucky enough but you are a great kisser though."

That was to be the last words that Naruto ever heard as his heart was clenching, like someone was squeezing the juice in dry while he was losing energy and couldn't breathe anymore. Finally the world grew black and he felt no pain anymore. He didn't feel anything left.

Until he felt something pulling him. Pulling him off the ground. The pain in his back was gone and instead he felt something else that wasn't as hot or uncomfortable. But he wasn't thinking about that as he awoke to the sound of an explosion and the shaking of the ship. This time things will be different. Naruto will now see to that he will lead him and those who deserve to live out of this ship and live.

XXXXX

The first thing Naruto always does in a treasure hunt is to gather what can be found in plain view so that he will have the strength left to find the others. And he did find such items, a note folded into two was attached to the bulletin board while on the sink was a picture frame containing the picture of a ship like the Titanic due to its shape and for being surrounded in fog.

The note was white in color but Naruto noticed that by the way he was holding it, there was a red line on the bottom to the left and ends at the folded indications. A blue line started at the same spot going to the right judging by the arrow on the end pointing in that direction. Above the red line a red bold triangle with the right angle at the top left corner; there was also a red triangle that was not bold with the right angle on the bottom right corner. Above the blue line with the arrow were triangles too in the color blue but were have opposite corners from top to bottom compared to the ones on the left.

Naruto didn't know what that meant but didn't care and kept looking only to see that the three bunk bed from which he fell from had a blue suitcase with a keyhole and a four digit lock so Naruto ignored it. Next to his three bunk bed was a tall pot with a cap on, the clear sign of hiding something so Naruto looked in to find a blue colored key; it was meant for the blue suitcase but without the four digit combination, it won't open. The stand carrying the pot had a door too so Naruto opened it while trying to not get his bottom wet from the rising waters; inside, he found a screwdriver.

It was prefect since the picture frame had screws in it. After loosening the screws, the picture came out of the frame and Naruto saw that there was something on the other side; it looked like the triangles on the note from the bulletin board. It meant to Naruto that the note contained half the combination to unlock the blue suitcase and this photograph was the key; so far, Naruto had deduced that the note said in order;

[7] [4] [6] [3]

That only meant that Naruto had to find a not similar to this one in order to get the entire combination for the blue suitcase as well as something red in color; maybe another suitcase. It didn't take long for Naruto to inspect the bunk beds and found another note indeed but it not just triangles but squares too on both sides. It also had a blue line and a red one with an arrow pointing to the right. It said this according to the key on the photograph;

[0] [2] [8] [5]

Now that Naruto had gotten the full combinations, he could open the suitcase but something had told him that he will need to find and open a red suitcase so he started to look for the suitcase and the key to open it. Naruto had found the red suitcase in a closet next to his bed bunk but when he found a red key taped to a full body mirror,

Naruto saw something that he couldn't take his eyes away from. There, in the reflection of the mirror, he saw himself for sure with his sun kissed blond hair and ocean blue eyes along with his weird birthmarks that resemble whisker marks. But, he saw that his eyes were baggy and his skin wriggled; he looked like he hadn't gotten any sleep in days, like he was nearly dead.

"Who did this to me? Why the hell is all this happening to me?" Naruto muttered until it hit him like a heavy mallet to the head. He remembered, remembered the exact things that happened before walking up in this room about to be submerged in water.

 _Flashback Begins!_

 _It was midnight when Naruto was finally back at his old apartment. When he joined college, he needed a place to stay and eat rather than at school and this was the closest place to the college he was studying at. Apartment room 201 was run down compared to the others, costing only 630$ a month which should barely scratched the fortune that his long deceased parents left him but Naruto had stayed in the one room affair for 3 years and 7 months so he was desperate in need for a job sooner or later to pay for the rest of his college days._

 _But this evening, Naruto noticed that his window was left open; he could have sworn to leave it closed when he left earlier that day. But when Naruto approached the window, to close and keep the cold evening wind out, he saw someone in the reflection! When Naruto turned to get a better look at the intruder, he couldn't tell much since it was someone wearing a thick black cloak with a gas mask covering the face but Naruto suddenly felt drowsy and dizzy. The room started to fill thick with white smoke._

 _{Consider this a privilege.} Naruto started to hear a strange voice that he didn't even recognize to be human at all; it was like the speaker spoke through a voice changer to hide their voice. {You have been selected to take part in a game. The [Nonary Game]. It is a game…where you will your life on the line.} That was the last thing Naruto remembered before passing out and the world became dark._

 _Flashback Ends!_

"That's right! That is what has happened to me! That bastard had gassed me in my apartment and took me here, where ever that is, for this [Nonary Game]!" Naruto said as he finished searching through his memories. Then the cold water reached half way to his kneecaps which alerted him back to reality. Now that he had both the combinations and the keys, he can open the suitcases and see what there is to use in order to get out.

The first order of business was the blue suitcase, the first one he found in the room. He used the combination according to the key found in the back of the ship photo that went like this: (0263). Along with the blue key, the suitcase opened to show a file book like those used to sort out papers and other things.

Inside this file book talked about a concept called the [digital root] which was found by adding a certain number of numbers and if the result is a double digit number, the two digits are combined to form the [digital root]. The example went like this; 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 = 14 1 + 4 = [5] so the [digital root] will be [5]. Along with this concept on paper were a set of three scan cards with the numbers [1], [2], and [3].

With that found, Naruto hurried to the red suitcase and entered the red key along with the combination from the notes translated by the key to be: (7485). Inside were a set of three scan cards too but with the numbers [6], [7] and [8]. That was it, there is nothing left to find in this room and the water was now knee high so Naruto trudged to the door.

He then got the mechanism that seemed to act like the doors lock so if Naruto can unlock it, the door will open and let him out. After trying every single one of the scan cards at once failed, Naruto realized that if he could try to find three numbers who [digital root] is [5] then the door will be unlocked. He eventually found the only possible group of numbers to be: [1], [6] and [7]. They add up like so: 1 + 6 + 7 = 14 1 + 4 = [5] That is why it work as the door now opened with a creaking sound but Naruto didn't care; the door was open and now he could escape.

XXXXX

Naruto ran out of the room and fled up the stairs from the waters that were chasing him all the way until they stopped at the 'C Deck'. He then reached the main staircase and saw everyone again, like he thought will happen. He even got to see Hinata again, alive and as June. He was tempted to kiss her but that will throw a monkey wrench into his plans. So he just acted ignorant all the way passed the Ninth man taking Clover hostage and dying behind door [5]. He ended when he wanted to go through door [5] himself to see if something was right.

'And I am blind and have a fake arm.' Naruto chuckled as Snake whispered in his ear at that same point as before, he just kept it in mind as he acted along in order to get where he wanted to be. They didn't have to worry because Naruto knew what he was doing. "Come one, we are not getting out by standing here. You must not forget what I have told you all that I have gotten from Zero." Naruto shook his head out of the stupor and hurried after Snake with Seven after them both and they placed their palms at the door and Snake pulled the lever. The door opened after that and Snake hurried towards the inside but didn't hear either Naruto's or Seven's footsteps. "Are you trying to kill me? You know what happens after nine seconds right?"

That alerted Naruto and Seven as they jumped through the door as it closed on them from behind. Then there was that haunting beeping sound again and when they heard it from their bracelets, they saw a skull mark where their numbers were to be. "Where is the DEAD!?" Seven started to panic and search the hallway. Naruto then pointed out something in the distance,

"There! I see something!" Naruto raced towards it while Seven and Snake followed after him. They found something for sure, it was device like the RED outside door [5]. The only difference is that it had snake decorations on the side and was in the color blue rather the RED who was in that very color itself.

"HEY!" Naruto ran to the door, ignoring the pool of blood. "Can you hear me over there!?" Naruto kept banging until he got his answer.

"Yeah we can Naru-chan!"

"Loud and clear!"

"I can hear you!" Those answers went off like popcorn in a popper which meant that they were trying to hear him too; Naruto couldn't risk leaving anything else for them not to hear.

"GOOD!" Naruto yelled at the top of his voice,

"The detonators have been deactivated!" Snake shouted out as well as both him and Seven both ignored the body pool in order to share the info.

"WE HAVE FOUND THE DEAD! LOOK FOR SOMETHING LIKE THE RED BUT IN A BLUE COLOR! YOU HEAR ME!? BLUE!" Naruto yelled out hoping they get every single word.

"Okay!"

"Thank you!"

"We will look!"

Naruto smiled at his responds and turned away from the door. Now he can look at the pool that was once a body. He saw the clothes of the Ninth man, the skull half crushed, the legs bent in a weird way and the stomach arena had a huge hole in it. There were the glasses that the Ninth Man was wearing by the body and the bracelet that he was also wearing on his wrist, still showing number [9].

Now was time to view the rest of the hallway, on the end was a black iron wall that looked like it won't move if they tried to open it. The walls had railings on for any rocky waters and there was a door on the left end of the hallway.

"Hey Snake, there is something on this door hear next to the DEAD." Seven said and Snake moved his hand over the door and felt a plate with letters on it that spelled '1st Class' like with the really wealthy live in because they can afford the prices. A better look at the door even showed more of what only the rich can experience, with golden decorations and shiny wood unlike the dirty and rough metals doors that Naruto woke up to see with his own hurt eyes.

"Well shall we do in?" Snake said and not even waiting to hear anything at this point, he then opened the door without hesitation. Yet Naruto didn't follow them, he still looked at the body mess with the last words echoing in his mind,

'It was he! He lied to me! He lie to me! He killed me! GARRGH~!' Who was he? Was it Zero? Why will he kill us all so soon in the game? Was it one of them who lied to the Ninth Man and caused him to seal his own fate? But why would one of use do it? For that matter, how did the Ninth Man knew how the RED work and since he did, he should have known the rest and not run off to die; did he forget or was never told? All these questions raced through Naruto's mind but before he could even organize them,

"Hey kid! Hurry up!" Naruto could hear Seven call out to him so he hurried to source of the voice's owner. He passed through a living room, a hallway of doors and into the master bedroom with a piano included but also another door that had an electronic lock. "As you can see, that is the exit but it is not going to be easy." Seven pointed out and Naruto nodded, it was time to start looking around: Seek a Way Out!

XXXXX

Naruto tried out the piano, the keys were working just find but without any music sheets, it will be impossible to find the right tone to cause anything. Snake deduced by examining the lock on the door by the bed that it will only unlock if the right tone is played on the piano. So Naruto looked for any clues Zero left in the room to the right music.

When there was nothing in the drawer near the bed, Naruto checked it out as the next thing to do; there was a glass sheet under the pillow. Still it only had one note each line so it was much help to the situation. Then Naruto went up to Snake and asked something to be sure of, "Is it true that you are blind?"

Snake smiled, he must have this question asked all the time. "Yes I am but don't take me for a senior citizen, I am still able win in wrestling matches. It is all in the ears and the nerves because most people don't know this about us blind folk." Naruto nodded and listened, "Since we all used our eyes all the time, when we are blind, we have to relive on our senses. As a result our taste, touch and hearing is much better than yours; that is how I live my life." Snake finished with a smile, sure that Naruto has no more questions; there was this one though.

"Does Clover know? She is your younger sister." Naruto asked and Snake nodded; that was enough to go back to searching for a way out. And since there was nothing left in the bedroom, he left it and passed the piano. But he then noticed something out of the blue that he had no idea how he missed it. It was a map of the ship or mores specially, the entire 'B Deck' they were now in. And according it, the two hallways behind the two doors do lead to one place; the stairs to the 'C Deck'. Just like what Naruto had somehow remembered from his cell; that settled his nerves so he was now able to focus better

The hallway is the same as ever with three doors; on to the living room, one back to the bedroom which left one more. Naruto tried it and the room turned out to be the bathroom. No water came out of the shower head (Seven mistook it for a game mic which Naruto playfully pointed out to him). Yet the bathtub was filled with water that was so dirty, you could see your hand if you dip it in. Seven was about to drain it but since that was the only source of water, Naruto stopped him; they then saved the water for something they need to do as part of the puzzles.

So they decided to return to the living room and saw that the fireplace had an active fire with something related to the music note from under the pillow; but with the flames, it was impossible to retrieve it. There was also a note on the table which showed the way to play the piano in case of no one knowing how. But that was still not saying the right tone and there was no time to experiment. Naruto and Seven then noticed that next to the door leading to the hallway was another one so they tried it; but not before seeing a blue vase on a small table in the corner, it was prefect for collecting water to dowse the fireplace with.

It was like a closet but without clothes nor even any hangers. It instead had a safe that Naruto ignored to check out the cabinet that the safe was resting on. It contained another music sheet and now everyone was another step closer to solving the lock on the door which is the way out. Now Naruto and Seven raced to the bathroom and filled the vase with water before draining the tub; inside the water was another music sheet. After using the water on the fireplace, it was now possible to retrieve the fourth piece of music.

Now Naruto combined the glass music and saw a music score; it had to be the one to get the door open. Naruto and Seven raced into the bedroom where Snake was waiting for anything. Naruto just turned to the piano and set the music score on the display. After trying the piano out, with Snake's help, Naruto was able to play the score which surprised everyone; the blonde sure is a quick learner, the one thing anyone can welcome in their party.

When Naruto was done, there was a new sound after the music; it sounded like when you use a key to unlock a door. Everyone turned to the door with the lock and Naruto and Seven noticed that instead of the color red it used to have, it had green bars now. Naruto walked up and tried the door and it yielded to his hand and to his strength. The whole time, Naruto noticed that there was something indeed wrong with Snake's arm; maybe he was telling the truth is that is going to get everyone from dying! Anyway, that was it; the way out has been found!

XXXXX

Once they got out of the ballroom and down the hallway, they noticed that it had an iron gate that separated them from another door that resembled their own. There was also double doors as well but only on set of them opened to see a strange room for sure. There were gambling machines, small tables, a fireplace, a counter with beer and glasses, and a contraction on the far wall that no one seemed to recognize.

"Is this a casino?" Seven asked and Naruto nodded while Snake was checking things out.

"We should look in here because there was a gate in front of those stairs." Naruto said and it was true, there was such a gate like it was a closed area for maintenance. The lock had a symbol like of the [Sun] and [Earth] doors and the elevator with the [Saturn]. But this one was more like the symbol for the female gender which Naruto remembered hearing from astronomy class that June had tricked him into taking in High School; that symbol was for the sister planet of Earth, Venus.

"Yes Naruto and shall we begin?" Snake said as he remembered placing his hand on the lock and feeling the symbol as well but before anyone could answer,

BANG!

The doors to the Casino they entered from had closed! Naruto charged for them but, "They are locked!"

"WHAT!? Let me at them!" Seven pushed Naruto away and tried to use his body weight and immense size into the doors but they didn't as much as budge. "Open up!" Seven kept on banging and banging until he felt like his arm was cracked marble. "Dammit."

"Looks like when we get out, we will also have to find the [Venus] key in order to progress." Snake said and with no room to argue, Seven stopped his actions and sighed deeply. Now was time to do it again after Door [5]; Seek A Way Out!

XXXXX

The first thing was that the fireplace had something out of place. There was plenty of firewood but they had no traces of it actually being used; like someone doesn't want a fire in the fireplace. On top was were some kind of glass sculptures and a couple of lights; there was also a card facing up in between. "Weird place to find a card." Naruto muttered and noticed from the famous game of cards with four symbols of a [clover], a [heart], a [diamond] and a [spade] each with a number from [one to ten] and also with a [king], a [queen], and a [joker]. This one was the [6] of spades.

Back to the rest on the fireplace, Naruto tried shining a light through the one to his right but couldn't make out the gibberish so he tried the other one to his left but before he could make out what they both said, he heard something fall down a deep hole or something. The closest thing to that will be the fireplace itself and more specifically the area with the firewood stacks in a pile and not being used. When Naruto looked, he saw a bag filled to the brim with something.

"Look at this guys. I found it in the fireplace." Naruto said to get the attention of his companions who went to see the filled bag. Naruto opened it to see, "Coins?" It was not the type you use in the market or a store or a restraint, no these were made to be used in a casino like this one; they operate the machines allowing you to test your luck and win all sorts of goodies if you are really lucky.

Naruto sealed the bag of coins and kept looking all over the room. He knew that every casino he found himself in, he will be asked to leave since he nearly won every single one of them out of business; they always took the money back as they refused to let gossip about a little kid being so lucky. And that is why Naruto doesn't like casinos that much.

In various places, Naruto found more and more cards each from the spade quarter of a full set. On tables, on counters and stuck onto one of the machines. Numbers like the six he found first then a seven, a four, and a five. With nothing left to find, other than that Seven can't handle any beer or wine, Naruto tried the gambling machines. In the end, only one of them worked, the one with the number [2] on as a label.

And just like from before, Naruto actually won a seven-in-a-roll which unlocked something and Seven pointed it out to the blonde. Naruto tried the bottom tray only to find another card and a key. That key had the Venus symbol on so they were good to go if they can get out of here. The card had spades too but the number [2] on it just like the machine label.

Then they wanted to check out the lock itself. It was a huge white dashboard with the ace card of spades stuck on the left, a huge [9] on the right and an empty card holder in the middle. It will seem that a certain key will be need in order to unlock the door. It will have to be a card that when added with the ace will equal nine. Unfortunately they didn't have such a card so they kept looking.

They soon noticed that there was a counter for playing the card game where two or more people bet on their money and whoever wins get to have all of the money placed on the table. But there was no need for betting money as there was the very card that Naruto needs in order to unlock the door, the [8] of spades. But Seven warned Naruto that if he can't place cards with a total that if greater than the card already placed, getting that card will be impossible. Thankfully there was another card to use, the [3] of spades; and with that along with the number two and number four card, it will equal nine, the number greater than eight. Once Naruto had placed those three cards, the glass seal on the number eight card lifted leaving the other three stuck on the counter.

With the number eight card, Naruto was able to combine that with the ace to form nine but then the lock actually retracted and showed three more slots for the other cards. With six, seven, and five left; Naruto realized something. Of course he didn't say a word as he placed them all in the slots which dinged correct on a quiz show. The door unlocked and the way out was found once again!

XXXXX

After getting out the Casino, Naruto used the key and successfully opened the gate. There were stairs on the other side so Naruto led his group down them. On the way, Naruto had a feeling of Déjà vu as the stairs lead to a massive hallway, with corridors of doors to either side and massive double doors at the end of the hallway and to their left.

Then Naruto saw something and couldn't help but say this, "Hey Seven. I have found Lotus's symbol on those elevators!" Seven of course was confused and followed Naruto's line of sight and saw indeed a set of elevators but the key card reader also had a symbol like the gate from before. It was the female symbol with what looked like horns on the top of the hoop. "See Seven, there is the symbol for a woman that Lotus is and the horns are there to show that she turns into a devil when she is angry!"

Seven then hollered with laughter and began to playfully ruffle up Naruto's hair as if bird's feathers. "That is a good one kid! I get it!" Snake just chuckled and scanned the symbol for himself.

"It is the symbol for Mercury, fastest and messenger of the gods themselves. His symbol shows the staff he uses for medicine and the horns are his wings that allow him to travel long distances in such short periods of time." Snake said but for some reason, Naruto felt like another funny comment based on that.

"So she beats you with a staff and sends you to heaven on her winged shoes?" Seven roared like a lion with all that laughter and ruffled Naruto even harder.

"Hahaha! Stop it kid or I will die of laughter!" Seven said with his breath breaking with the laughter until he claimed down and released Naruto who had begun to feel dizzy.

After ignoring this hall of doors and the elevator, Naruto's group went into the Double Doors and saw a massive room filled to the brim with beds on wheels. On that far back, there were four double doors; on the far right had the number [7], second from the right was [8] and on the fare left was [3]. It all was like a feeling that Naruto was here somehow and if this loose memories were right and Naruto whooped they weren't…"What is wrong with REDs!?"

That alerted Seven and Snake so they went up to Naruto who was glaring at one of the REDs. "What is wrong with you?"

"They don't work!" Naruto said and Seven could see that unlike the RED at door [5] that had the electronic letters that said 'Vacant', this one didn't. No matter who tried to place their hand on the scan panel component of the RED, nothing happened. And just when Seven was about to scream in frustration, the doors opened again.

"JUNE!" Naruto yelled as the said girl practically rocketed to him, glad that they went up again. The others were all shocked as to that it was true to what the blonde had said before. They did meet up again after the two doors! Yet something in those strange memories was something that Naruto hoped to prevent from happening; the disappearance of Snake! But this time, Naruto knew where Snake was but didn't want to bring down everyone's mood so no one will go through the number three door and get the single key. No this time will be different because he will be going through, "Door Eight."

Naruto looked at everyone who gave their own responses to that answer of his. Lotus was smiling that she got the blonde to see her way. Ace was no different since it didn't matter to him that much. Santa and Seven didn't care, they were able to get somewhere. June was worried, she is still not going to be with Naruto again and maybe this won't be like the first two doors. Clover was still down that her brother is still missing.

"Alright, that is what I am talking about. And it looks like you are with me and Clover Naruto." Lotus said, proud with herself that didn't help. She then turned to the door and Clover silently followed after her. Naruto just stayed and talked with June.

"I am sorry that we had to spit up but we really have no choice. Without Ace, we all can't go through any of these doors." Naruto brought which got him thinking; it was true about Ace who was the one who volunteered to stay behind as the sacrifice, why did he? If someone else would have stayed behind, door [3] will be done easily as well another one of the doors. So why? "Let's just put our trust in each other's groups and believe we will met up again. I have a feeling that these doors won't led to the number nine door. If we need to try more doors than I will join you this time." That last comment actually did the trick and June nodded, still disappointed but also hopeful to see her best friend again for the third time this evening.

Naruto joined Clover and Lotus and they all verified their numbers at the RED. Lotus pulled the lever around the same time as the second group did. That meant there was only nine seconds to see June for the first before another separation. It took less than nine seconds and then the two friends hurried into each door. Inside, Naruto hurried to find the DEAD and they found it to be near a door; after deactivating the detonators in their bracelets, Naruto read the label on top. It said 'Laboratory' which pretty much tells everything there is about the room on the door side of this hallway that was bland in color and had a dead end where the door was located so that was to be the only way to progress onto where it all leads to.

When Naruto finally opened the door, they did find themselves in a room that was in the shape of an 'L'; the room had a closed off area downstairs with glass panels that peered into it. Most likely for the head scientists to watch from a safe distance over the other scientist do the experiments. There were plenty of operational panels and two tables. One of them had a testing dummy on one of them with wires plugged into its brain.

"I will be in the other room if you need me." Clover said blandly as she forgo her companions and went into the lower room for some privacy.

"Wait Clover!" Naruto didn't have a good feeling about the bars that were in the upper area of the doorway. True to his fears, they fell down as soon as Clover was completely inside the experiment room. "CLOVER!"

"Naruto!" The duo tried and tried to remove the bars but they were bolted solid. "Naruto…" Clover started to cry like she had been bad and was found out by her parents. "Am I…?"

"You will just stay put and tell us what you can find in your room while me and Lotus looked around this one. We will get you out." Naruto said and by looking to his left and Clover's right, there was another door leading to the room where Clover was trapped in. She could see that door is able to be unlocked and used to free her.

Once Clover settled down and relaxed, she just went to bottom of the stairs and waited for Naruto to get her out. Meanwhile, it was time: Seek A Way Out!

XXXXX

Surveying the rest of the laboratory, Naruto saw that there were also equipment in the room. There were also some wires, a locker and a couple of computers but none of them worked. They seemed to not be connected to any power source. "Can you check out the room you are in Clover? I think we can get somewhere if we can get one of this computers to work."

"…Okay." Clover said in a low voice and she left for the other room. Naruto felt bad for Clover; first she had to lose her brother and now she is trapped in a scary room all by herself. The most she could do is what nay big girl can do; hang in tight and wait until Naruto asks of her to do something within the room she is trapped.

Meanwhile, the blonde was searching tireless for something to connect the computers to a power source within the walls. Finally, he found one. A black power cable that had a three pronged connector and a smaller connector that can only fit into an open port around the black computer. "This should help or at least do something." Lotus remarked when she got a good glimpse of this power cable.

Naruto ignored her and tried to connect he black computer but came to something that dashed his hopes; the power cable couldn't connect to the nearest outlet! It was the wrong shape for the power cable! Naruto was now back to square one again until Lotus spoke up, "All we really need is a plug that can be attached to the end of this power cable and fit into the power outlet." Naruto searched the whole room but couldn't one that Lotus described; so he turned to Clover's room and asked if she find something like this.

After a few minutes, Clover returned to the bars separating her from the others with a white plug of the very shape. But she had something else in her hand that she claimed to copy from the table that had no testing dummy on. It took a bottle of special ethanol that was so strong, it was able to erase the permanent markings on the table. It appeared to be a pound symbol with numbers on it. But Naruto just placed aside so he will be able to connect the black computer to power. The screen opened to show a box asking for a password!

Lotus said not to worry about it and Naruto found good reason because as soon as her fingers touched the keyboard, they went like bullets from a machine gun. They looked like blurs as to how fast they went. Naruto was impressed, it would seem that being in dancer's clothing said nothing about Lotus being a real Flash on a keyboard. Lotus teased Naruto about how this skill had made the blonde attracted to her; Naruto just politely denied, saying that he already had a girl he is interested in and how his status as a college student was just not for a woman 'as great and wonderful and helpful' as she is. Lotus ended off on a note which said she understood and wanted to be there when Naruto and his precious girl got married.

Then he started to talk about Seven's amnesia from behind Door [5] which got Lotus's attention and she started to talk about a disability called 'Prosopagnosia' in which the victim is unable to distinguish the difference between two people's faces. It was kind like the monkeys at the zoo, they don't have distinctive face features like humans do. They tell each other apart in another way altogether. Naruto nodded and took it all for future use.

Eventually, Lotus was able to get in and the screen showed a layout of nine squares in the shape of a larger one. Remembering the piece of paper that Clover had gave him, Naruto was able to solve the puzzle. When this happened, the screen turned back again but to the left; the boxes which were only half green on the left are now all green. Naruto was able to open them and in one of the compartments, he found two keys. One of them fit into a computer machine while the other had an astronomical symbol like the other keys before, this time having the [Earth] Symbol.

Naruto then used the computer key to activate the larger computer which made a green screen and seemingly nothing else happened. Then Naruto spoke after a few minutes of thinking this over, "Okay. To get out, we need to start a fire."

"WHAT!?" Lotus made the same response Naruto had feeling he will be listening to, "Why a fire!? Are you trying to kill us!?"

"No, when there is a fire, no matter what, all the doors in the room unlock to let out the smoke. That is how we are going to get Clover out with the rest of us." Naruto said and went to the bars where Clover was waiting all this time, "Clover? Can you start one of the machines that is connected to the dummy? I think I have figured out the way out."

"Okay!" Clover was clueless and started the machines which sent power to the dummy; something had happened when the power reached the dummy and sparks shot out of the wires. The sparks caught onto the flammable substances in the room and caused a fire!

{A fire has been detected. All doors are unlocked. I repeat, all doors are unlocked. Please evacuate.} A computer voice beeped into the room and Naruto was able to open the door to the experiment section from which Clover ran into his arms as the blonde closed the door on most of the smoke. Before they could catch their breath, Naruto opened the door before the smoke could escape through the bars.

Once the door to the laboratory had been closed, Naruto found Clover still in his arms, frightened by everything. He then felt a punch into the stomach that only made him flinch but recoiled anyway to make Clover feel better. She was angry that she was tricked into starting a fire even though it got them out. Lotus then slapped him on the face for the same reason but then kissed that same spot for trying so hard for them to get out. Lotus commented that any girl Naruto choose will be a lucky one.

XXXXX

Once they have left the laboratory, they ran down a hallway that led to a door similar to the ones with the number [8] on it. It was like it all lead back to the hospital room, just like Naruto had said before. "HEY!" A loud voice had alerted Naruto and his companions and they saw a second surprise in a row.

"June. I told you we will meet again." Naruto should have raised his voice in excitement but for some reason he could feel that way. It was like he knew it would happen and was not terribly excited that it did.

"Yeah you did." The girl in question said in shame that she had to doubt Naruto about it. Anyway, Santa interrupted them once again.

"I don't get it. I thought that one of the doors will at least led to the final door. But instead we are back to where we started." He said rather unhappy with how things turned out to be; not after seeing that Zero had both tricked them with the first set of doors and now he did it again with this set.

"I told you that Zero won't separate us for good so early in the game but I hope you found a key at least." Naruto said and June nodded before Santa took out one as well. They then returned to the hospital room and told Ace everything. But Naruto couldn't stop them from going into the reaming room not tried yet; the accursed door [3]. Like Naruto had feared, after a few minutes the group left the door with a number and told them what they had found. Naruto went along to verify something. There was something wrong about Snake's body but Naruto could get his finger on it.

But with that done, it was time to figure out which of the three doors left to investigate, reunite and try to find the ninth door. Naruto drew the choosing again and the six decisions were the same but his answer was,

"I choose door [6]. Clover let her brother out of her sights and he went missing. I am not risking June with this." Naruto said in a convinced tone but not everyone appreciated it.

"But then none of us can go into any of the doors!" Santa yelled, "Three, Six and Five make Fourteen and that digital root will be [5], not [6]!" He ranted with everyone agreeing but Naruto just smirked.

"So? Ace will go with us and the others will go through Door [1]." Naruto said blandly and everyone did the math; 8 + 7 + 4 = 19, 1 + 9 = 10, & 1 + 0 = 1. That worked out, just not in the way anyone had wanted. Clover was no different, emotionless ever since the accursed discovery behind Door [3].

The walk to the elevator on 'B Deck' and going down to the 'E Deck' was quiet for sure. No one spoke a word all the way to the dirty steel door with the number [6] emblazoned on it with red paint. The only sounds they heard besides their footsteps on the ground was the sounds of their number verifying on the RED, then the sound of the lever creaking against the metal that kept the whole device in place. The door then squeaked like a dying mouse for the gang to race through before it closed on them with a thunderous slam. Then there was, for the three time to them; the haunting beeping of their bracelets.

After catching the DEAD in the corner of his eye, Naruto relied everyone to follow him all the way to the blue colored device. They just barely verified their numbers and pulled the lever which halted the beeping and reset the detonators to back to 90 seconds. Now the hallway had no beeping, no squeaking or thumping of footsteps. Just the sound of heavy breathing from startled hearts through vigorous exercise.

"Just how many times will it take until this nightmare is over?" Naruto was finally able to speak some many words after several minutes of catching his breath.

"I guess enough times will be the closest answer." June muttered after trying to do the same. Everyone else were so out of breath, they could barely even stand up straight. Still they followed Naruto and June through the hallway until a steel door with a bar lock that one needs to turn in order to open.

When Naruto did move that heavy bar lock, the door opened to a room that tore away their breath again. It was very vast, enough to fill in a lake of water if not for the stairs, giants iron machines and other appliances. It was a… "Engine room." Naruto muttered and this companions just nodded in response, not caring if the blonde noticed or not.

They wanted to get a closer look at these engines. It was an older model that ran on burning coal supplied by the workers from crates filled with coal pieces. It was all like the original Titanic since the time period matches perfectly. But then Naruto sensed something that caused him to shift his glaze Hinata and for a good reason; she was fainting with a high fever again!

"Where that fever come from!? Are you okay?!" Naruto yelled and Hinata weakly smiled.

"I do feel a little dizzy, my legs feel they turned to rubber. I just need to lie down. Please don't worry about me." Hinata tried to say but her running high temp was not helping. Naruto reluctantly let her down near one of the cooler walls of this room so at least she is away from the heat.

Now it was time, for the third time for the Blonde today; Seek A Way Out!

XXXXX

After Naruto made sure that June was settled and comfortable as she slept her fever away, he noticed that there was machine near their location. It was a conveyor belt machine to move something along. "They used this to deliver more coal to the workers, to feed the coal machines." Ace explained and Naruto just nodded. Then he noticed a panel on the side, he wanted to see what was drawing him to it. It turned out that there was a space that was empty. With three bar carvings on the lower left corner for some reason.

With nothing left to find, Naruto looked around the machines. Each of them had supersized gear that was copper, silver, and gold respectively. Something was definitely off about them, who needed gears of different metals? But no matter how hard they tried, the boys could even budge the gears. There was another way of doing this and it has to be found or getting out will never happen.

On the end of the space between the boilers and the wall they faced, Naruto chuckled at the assuming saying of Santa who spotted a pile of sandbags; he called a 'secret snowman meeting'. Ace was the one serious enough point out what they really are. Still the sandbags were used as replacement weights for iron and steel weights, they can be part of the puzzles. That box attached to a rope might be as well.

But it was time to try the stairs opposite to it all. There was a door there, might be the exit. But instead of a card reader or a keyhole, there was this stand that had the imprint of three overlapping circles. That meant the key was in the shape; the door won't open until the key is placed in right.

Now it was time for the other set of stairs that reached greater heights than the first set that ended at the door. Half way up was an electronic board that caused nothing to happen no matter how much anyone pulled the triggers; something just hasn't happened yet that will fix this problem. Meanwhile, the others walked further up the stairs to the catwalk located the highest in the boiler room.

There, at the top, were three doors with the order from the far left: (ABC). It would seem that these go to the other side but only to their portions, not the entire catwalk on the side. Since the cat walk to either side was blocked by piles of boxes, these doors were the only thing to get to the other side.

"So which door will be first?" Santa asked and he couldn't believe the answer that was given to him.

"How about 'C'? With plenty of 'A's and no 'B's in our names, let's give it a fair chance." Ace replied with the most stoic face the old man could muster. Naruto just laughed, and Santa sighed; it will seem that he was the one that wasn't given a fair chance. So they did Door 'C'.

When they made it through, it would seem that there was indeed less space than on the other side. Boxes stopped them from entering the space behind the other doors. The only thing they could approach was a pulley which had a box attached to its rope. But there was no wheel to operate the pulley. So they gave up on door 'C' for now and decided to try the door to the other side to this pulley; door 'A'. There, a pulley that had nothing attached to its rope but did have a wheel that came of rather easily; this wheel didn't go with this pulley and should go to the other one.

When they tried it, the wheel snapped in place and moved the left which allowed the pulley to lower what was in the box. So it was time to go through the door again and down the stairs. Santa and Ace still held Naruto back by expressing something they never thought of before; they felt like they haven't eaten anything in who knows how long, that is why they are exhausted and starving like Guinea Pigs. Naruto had thought hard on it but wanted to get out as quickly as he could so the blonde placed this to the back of his head.

It turned out that the pulley was above the conveyor belt machine. Inside the box attached to the rope was something that looked like a portable control panel in a prefect square shape. The same as in the empty space on the machine. There was even bumps on the back left bottom corner that also matched the holes in the empty space. Trying, Naruto found that the power control device snapped in like puzzle pieces. Activating it, the machine started to sprout out coal for the nearby empty boxes to contain.

"So we should use these coal boxes to fuel the engines! That is hot and dirty work!" Santa ranted but no one responded so he just sighed like a defeated teacher to her rebellious class. He helped out carrying the heavy boxes that Naruto and Ace had already started to carry and unload into the coal burner engines.

"I am helping!" The boys turned to see June, despite her running fever, was standing up and just barely lifted a box of coal with her unstable body and limbs. Naruto had just dumping on empty so he went over to June and took the full box of coal from her. "I said that I will help!"

"You still have a fever and tell me, was standing with a fever and a heavy box in hand actually comfortable?" Naruto and June just looked down in shame with her blush mixed in with her heated fever face.

"No…but I can't stay just sitting around doing nothing while you guys run all around looking for a way out." June said with a stubborn tone despite the heat and pain surging through her body at every word and as much a single twitch and make her shudder in pain. After the coal was placed in, June was placed back where she can rest her fever away. Naruto had a feeling on what to do next.

Even though he never found out what the 'B' door led to (and he had a better idea on what), he went to the control panel halfway up. He then tried the lever that covered in a red outline; which was suitable since the other levers didn't much as budge when he tried it the first time. When that lever was pulled upward, the engines had roared to life with all those coal to burn.

"Now what?" Ace asked and Naruto was thinking about it until he noticed something. The three colossal gears started to move! They rotated until they stopped for good, Naruto had to see why. When he reached the first gear made from gold, there was a circle in an imprint on the gear that matched the keyhole to the door out. After retrieving it, Naruto had to check out the other gears and found similar circles in the imprints on the copper and silver that also matched the keyhole and the golden gear.

Taking the circles from the gears to the keyhole and with the other guys following, Naruto tried them out until he was able to realign the red lines into the Star of David which opened the door. But they couldn't leave June behind. Santa and Ace volunteered to watch over the door and use the key again when Naruto returned with June.

When Naruto arrived where June was, he saw that June's temperature had lowered to a more comfortable set. It will seem that the rest did help with the fever! "That's great June! Then we can get out of here!" Naruto got excited and took June into his arms, to lift her up from the ground.

"W-wait Naru-chan." Naruto could see that June was awaking from her long sleep. "I c-can walk." June was blushing that her best friend was lifting her like a bride.

"Sorry about that." Naruto also blushed and allowed June to stand on her legs. But what happened next was something that he never thought will happen and yet he felt like it did somewhere. June took Naruto by surprise, by kissing him on the lips. Naruto then felt like there was no fear or hesitation left in his system, he kissed her back.

It was soon time to part for the need for air so the couple just panted and looked at each other in loving eyes. "That was amazing June. I never saw you before with such boldness to do what you want."

June just nodded and enjoyed the warmth of Naruto's chest, it made the best pillow in the world to her. After a few moments, they heard Santa call them off rudely; that caused them to part in embarrassment that covered their disappointment. When they arrived back at the door, they found another rare sight. Santa was sitting on the stairs and looking at a photo with longing eyes.

"Who is in that photo?" Naruto just had to ask but Santa didn't response in the way he always did.

"My younger sister." Santa said to be simple. "My little, baby sister. Cute as a button and always could brighten up your day. She always did to me. I was like Santa Claus to her." That sent everyone's curiosity over the peak, "Every Christmas, no matter how little money we had, I always got what you wanted. She will always write Santa a note and I always told her that I will take this to the post office. With that letter, I always was able to get what she liked." This was a new Santa for sure. "But one Christmas, she asked for the one thing I didn't think I will be able to grant; she wanted for her and me to be together forever. I told her like I do every Christmas, that Santa will grant her wish and she hugged me like she always did when she got her present."

"Santa, you are a good brother. I am sure that your sister was happy to have you for an older brother." Naruto tried to comfort Santa but it seemed that nothing was going to stop the silver haired boy in punk's clothing and with dog like features from feeling sad. Still he smirked as a response.

"Yeah. I am proud to be that little girl's older brother but all that garbage meant Faith, Hope, Trust and Love. None of those ever granted what I really needed in life." Santa didn't realize it but Naruto was frozen as he somehow remembered Santa saying such things in another room on the ship entirely. But that only lasted a moment until heard Ace rearrange the pieces of the key again and the door opened a second time. Naruto forgot about that and took June by hand and left through the door with Santa and Ace.

XXXXX

They finally got out of the boiler room but it was clear they weren't out of the woods yet. There was a huge hallway on the door side of the door and when they came across another one, they opened it. When they did, they were greeted by such a sight, it was vast almost like the boiler room but it was no boiler room. Instead of machines and boilers, it had boxes and crates and ropes keeping them down. It was the storage bay, where they unload the various supplies or any cargo that is going where the passengers on the ship are going to. There was a fence cutting the entire room in half that was too high to climb on. There was also a spiraling stair case that led to a three floors catwalk, a door on the second one. Naruto and the gang decided that this door will be the one to get out of the cargo hold. But that wasn't the strangest thing at all, on the other side of the fence to them; there was a coffin. A fancy one on some of the crates. It was all out of hands and arms reach.

Now it was time like behind door [5], Seek A Way Out!

XXXXX

"What are these bags?" Santa asked seeing how there were sandbags just lying around for seemingly no reason other than littering. Naruto checked out one of them that was lying in front of a set of nine crates which also stuck Naruto as something weird. But as for what was inside the bags, it was an ID card for Seven with a profile image to go with it.

The other bags had ID cards of the people who participated in this game. June playfully teased Naruto about 'unsexy' her picture had made her but Naruto got her to blush when he retorted on how it made her gorgeous instead. Pretty soon, Naruto had found nine of the cards for each of the nine people including the Ninth Man. But before Naruto could try them out, "No June! NO!" Naruto sighed as he had to listen to the familiar ranting of Santa so he left the job to Ace who looked troubled because of it.

Naruto found the two near the fence, despite it clearly be electrocuted to keep anyone from climbing on it. June tried to get near but was shocked from the raw electric bursts. Naruto went to her and took June in his arms.

"Why are so reckless June? Do you want to get out that fast?" Naruto said in a gentle tone that made June shake in his touch and cry in shame at her actions.

"I am sorry Naruto. I hate it here. That is all. I want to escape." June spoke through her tears and despite being so reckless, Naruto and Santa couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor girl. She had to hear that despite their efforts to stay together, two of their own had died. Who will be next? And how we they die?

"It will be okay. We will protect you. We will get out. I promise." Naruto whispered to June's ear and she just lost her voice and broke into tears. She then nodded again and again before she managed to settle down enough to halt her tears. Naruto then left her with Santa and returned to see that Ace hadn't as much as placed a single card down.

"I'm sorry. I just can't do it. You do it." Ace said in a shameful tone like he is forcing himself to admit the truth about something dark about him; it must be that shameful. Naruto sighed and took the cards from Ace's hands and place them according to their bracelet numbers. They then opened to reveal nine pins each with a number [1 – 9] on the end. With that, there was nothing left to do on the ground level for now and it was time to try out the top of the stairs.

Gathering his group, they climbed the stairs and pass the door that was locked and to the control panel overlooking a machine that moves crates around. But without power, the control box couldn't make anything happen. It will seem that the way to unlock the power to the panel, Naruto had to use digital roots to light up the nine buttons. When he was finished, the last step was to make a magic square; a famous puzzle in which numbers from one to nine were sorts so either vertical or horizontal or even diagonal sets all add up the same number. After that was done, the control panel roared to life and now Naruto can use the machine behind the fence to move the movable crates to form a bridge of sorts to the fancy coffin.

When the bridge was made and it was accessible from crates stacked like a makeshift staircase, Naruto hurried to try it out and the others followed him. When they reached the coffin, it had no mummy inside, just a key and…a golden revolver. It was a model that fitted when in the time era of the Titanic and other cruise liners. But while everyone made their own remarks about it, Naruto noticed something about the revolver that caused him to close the coffin and kicked off the crates, for it to crash into the floor below.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Santa yelled in shock and anger again which made Naruto look down with a sad look on his face,

"Now no one can use it anymore." Naruto said and he walked this time from the sight of the broken coffin on the ground. The others just followed him and he opened the door with the key they found; for the record, it wasn't a key with an astronomical symbol like the others they take with them from the rooms.

No one was glad or celebrating but the result was something to be happy about; they have found the way out of the room!

XXXXX

After opening the door from the cargo hold, the gang found themselves on the 'D Deck' again. Just on the other side of a steel grate that separated a set of elevators. But that wasn't all there was to this hallway. There was something that stood out, a door. A door that was fancy like the one to the 1st class rooms on the 'B Deck'.

Since it was not numbered, the group decided to try it out. When they did, they were in for their greatest surprise today. When they entered the room, it was an altar like from the inside of a church but no one bothered with that. They were all looking at the door they were facing as soon as they entered. It had the one thing that they all were looking for, the number [9]. It was the Ninth Door! They had made it!

But now it was time to find Clover again but this time, no one is going to die. Why? Because Naruto is about to crack this whole mystery open with just a few more hints. And he is going to get them soon than he can ever ask for when he heard the familiar saying; "Clover is gone missing."

End of Chapter 14.

 ***That is it, this is the third bad ending from 999 in Naruto fashion. Don't worry, Naruto had now went through very door in the ship except for the ninth door. This time, he will remember how to get there but also about the dangers, tensions and time bombs about to set off. He will not let others suffer for their own fear and Naruto will die seeing that whatever happened before will never happen again.**

 **I am sure that you notice on how I never repeat the details of every room escape puzzle but since I am doing it for real, I am going to start giving all the details for this fourth ending that will unlock the way to real and good ending. Hope you like it!***


	15. The Deduction to Disaster: Bad Ending 4

999

The Deduction to Disaster: Bad Ending 4

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or 999.**

 _Previously on 999: 9 Shinobi Behind 9 Doors with 9 Hours,_

 _After opening the door from the cargo hold, the gang found themselves on the 'D Deck' again. Just on the other side of a steel grate that separated a set of elevators. But that wasn't all there was to this hallway. There was something that stood out, a door. A door that was fancy like the one to the 1st class rooms on the 'B Deck'._

 _Since it was not numbered, the group decided to try it out. When they did, they were in for their greatest surprise today. When they entered the room, it was an altar like from the inside of a church but no one bothered with that. They were all looking at the door they were facing as soon as they entered. It had the one thing that they all were looking for, the number [9]. It was the Ninth Door! They had made it!_

 _But now it was time to find Clover again but this time, no one is going to die. Why? Because Naruto is about to crack this whole mystery open with just a few more hints. And he is going to get them soon than he can ever ask for when he heard the familiar saying; "Clover is gone missing."_

"What do you mean she is missing!?" Santa yelled in disbelief until he was held back by Naruto,

"Relax Santa. By herself, she couldn't have gone through any of the Numbered doors but now we found a way around them so we all can investigate what was behind them. Let's look there." Naruto said and somehow that settled everyone down so they started to trace their steps back behind the numbered doors.

Naruto found himself going through the area behind door [5], where the ninth man had died and noticed that there was something missing from the body but didn't say a word and only took note of it. Then he heard a scream, from Lotus and then June. Naruto hurried to where the screams came from and he soon saw what was scaring them. They had found Clover and she was found by someone who had slit her throat open.

"Who could have done such a thing? And to a poor girl like her?" Naruto said with sadness and anger boiling in his body; he was sad because he almost found proof that her brother was never dead and angry that someone had the never to kill her in such cold blood.

"I don't know but I am sure as hell that we shouldn't separate because someone among us is now a ruthless killer and he can't get off this ship so he could kill another one of us." Seven gave his own two cents and this got everyone on edge until they noticed that Naruto was getting a closer look at the body.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? Do you have any fucking respect for the dead!?" Santa yelled but that didn't deter Naruto from his calmness.

"I do and she wanted to share this with us so I am going to find out any secrets this piece of paper will reveal." Naruto said and he showed a piece of paper that Naruto had wrenched from the hand of the dead girl,

It wrote;

The truth had gone, the truth had gone and the truth had gone.

Ah, now truth is asleep in the darkness of the sinister hand.

It made no sense to the others and Naruto decided to try something out that he was never able to before. The safe in the closet, accessible from the living room. Naruto hurried over with the others following after him. They then saw that Naruto had stopped in front of the safe while staring at the note and his bracelet.

"Well Naruto? What is it?" June asked and Naruto just smiled before turning around,

"I need to think hard on this and need silence and you to spread out before the killer finds out that his work had been discovered. Never travel alone and someone has to stay behind and make sure no one try's to kill either me or them. Thank you." Naruto said and June ultimately decided to stay and help the blonde.

He then smiled close enough to peel his mouth off his face. Then he pressed the right button on his bracelet and then the left and then the right again and then the left again for three times until his bracelet started to act strange, it switched between numbers until it reached [1]. Naruto tried it again and the same result happened.

14383421\. That was the number sequence that happened every time. It meant something for sure and it may be the safe. Naruto then tried it as the combination and it worked! "Got it!" Naruto shouted and reached in the safe to find two pieces of evidence that made Naruto grin like a maniac.

"What is it Naruto? What did you find?" June asked after hearing that shout out but she only got this as an answer.

"Let's just get the others and meet in the hospital room. I have finally figured everything out. I will explain when everyone is here." Naruto said and June had to nod in agreement.

XXXXX

Later, in the Hospital Room,

"If this is a waste of our precious time alive, I will kill you Naruto!" Santa said as he impatiently tapped his foot as well as everyone else in the hospital room.

"I assure you that I am not in any way wasting your time. I have figured it all out." Naruto said bold and to the point. He smiled at the shocked faces, "I know who killed them all. I know who killed the Ninth Man behind Door [5]. I know who killed the man in the Shower Room behind Door [3]. I know who tried to kill Clover in the bathroom within the 1st class quarters behind door [5]. I even know that Snake is still alive." Naruto said that last one while drifting his gaze to Ace who was being to get uncomfortable. "Ace or if you prefer your real name as Madara Uchiha, CEO of a very big company on weapons and study on the human eye that made your fortune, it was you." Naruto's voice started to become sharp as everyone started to stare at Madara. "It was you! You do it!"

Silence reigned supreme over the room as everyone else couldn't believe that Ace or Madara could have killed all those people. Then that same man laughed hardly like a jolly old soul. "Thanks Naruto. I needed that laugh in this gloomy atmosphere. But seriously if I killed them, why should I ever do that? You have no proof…"

"Actually I do, Madara. I have plenty." Naruto intercepted the amused man who gave both his ears of attention. "First is that the Ninth man said something that actually made sense with his last actions. He knew how to operate the REDs that Zero never explained over his intercom announcements. Yet he also tried to go in alone, he should have known he sealed his fate by doing so. Yet why did he Madara?"

"I don't know Naruto. How am I supposed to know what a complete stranger does!?" Madara said in a rage but Naruto never lost his smirk. Then he took out a photo that have stopped the old man in his tracks.

"Not so much of a stranger to you than anyone else according to this photo." It was a photo of Madara along with three more people. The one on the bottom left corner looked a lot like the ninth man with his pale face and black hair in a bird's nest. The man in the top right corner looked as tall as Snake and with similar features but they were so different that anyone will eyes could tell them apart. Finally the man in the bottom right corner was rather short and fat, like a wealthy businessman.

"That man who you killed was Orochimaru. He was a successful scientist until he was discarded for his disturbing experiments with human minds. Looks like he sold his soul to someone like you." Naruto said in a confident tone.

"So what? That doesn't say why I want to kill him." Madara said only to be interrupted by Naruto's distinctive and loud laughter.

"I can't believe how senile you are acting Madara! You should be hired for an actor for some low budget film with that face of yours!" No one among the two knew what to think of this until Naruto had calmed down. "But yes it does explain why you want to kill the Ninth Man. In fact I can list three reasons why you want to kill him."

Everyone was listening for sure. "One, that he used to work with you and since he was like a newborn deer with his shaking and nervousness, who knows why he finally snap and told everyone about the game and what you did. You had to keep him quiet." Naruto lifted one of his fingers, "Two, to test this game's rules. You wanted to see what will happen if the rules are broken so you can see just how serious Zero's game is. That is why you lied to him into thinking he will safe while scouting ahead." It was getting intense in the air,

"You are saying theories and you can't prove them!" Madara yelled, he was starting to lose his patience in his fear.

"Then why did I find another bracelet in your pocket?" Naruto said and Madara paled even more,

"What? When did you…?" Madara panicked until he realized too late that he was duped into confessing what he had done.

"Thank you Madara-san. You have proved what I was saying." Naruto smirked. "I thought that I will check on the body of the ninth man. And what I didn't find? His bracelet, still working but covered in blood." Madara growled and everyone started the gasp as they were getting it too. "That is the third reason for killing the Ninth Man. You wanted his bracelet. Because in the Nonary Game, nine is a king number. No matter the total nine is added to, the digital root will never change. The ninth man can go anywhere in this game."

"So what?! So if I did all that! Snake still died and I didn't kill him!" Madara tried the save face, "That man was too scared and naïve to believe me! I was only joking! That doesn't make it my fault that he died!"

"Save your breath old man. I am not done yet and you are only half right about that first statement. Snake is still alive." Naruto said to silence Madara. "I checked that body in the shower room, we all thought it was Snake because they are mostly the same height and build. It was even wearing Snake's clothes and the bracelet was around as well. But Clover set the record straight about Snake." Eyes soon turned to Clover who was getting uneasy about all this attention so Naruto went on.

"She was Snake's sister and she was the other one who knew this about Snake. His right arm is fake." Naruto said and everyone gasped. "Yes, the man wearing Snake's clothes had a real arm with a real bone white ulna sticking out the right arm. That man is not Snake and you killed him Madara!" Naruto still pointed to the old man who was shaking like a leaf in the wind.

"No I didn't! Stop pinning the blame of all these things on me Naruto! I am shocked about it as you are! I don't blame others for it!" Madara still tried his old 'defenseless old man' gig but Naruto still had back up.

"No I don't Madara and my name is not Naruto." Madara was confused. "My name is Santa. That is Naruto over there." This was not making any sense to the poor old man. "We just switched our clothes and look, we can even mimic each other's voices! We are so good!"

"You are not Santa! You are Naruto! Quit playing around!" Madara was losing his temper by the minute for sure and Naruto just kept smirking.

"For an old man you are good. What gave us away?"

"Your bracelet numbers are different!" Madara said while not realizing what he had said to everyone.

"But the bracelet numbers are out of sight under their sleeves."

"It is their faces that are different!"

"What!?" Madara yelled in shock until he realized that he did it again. "You…" Madara turned all his attention to Naruto who was in the bright light of victory.

"You are nothing but a senile and cowardly old man Madara. You failed the test all because you couldn't tell the difference between our faces. Our bracelet numbers gave us away but how are you still going to tell the difference once we take them off? You have prosopagnosia don't you?" Naruto said in great detail and everyone gasped at this new info. "That is why you killed the man found in the shower room. He was another person who was wearing Snake's Clothing and the number [2] bracelet. You assumed him to be Snake so you used your own bracelet, the number [2] bracelet and the one you stole from behind door [5] to shove that man behind door [3] and left him to die!"

Madara started to laugh again, "You got me. I do have Prosopagnosia. It is a curse. All my life, it was nothing but monkey faces from the zoo every single day." No one was getting where Madara was going until the man started to grin like a madman over his victory. He then moved fast despite being a man of his age and took Lotus into his arms, as a hostage!

"Lotus!" Naruto yelled but had to hold back when he saw what was in Madara's remaining hand; a golden gun! "What!?"

"That gun!" Santa yelled along with Naruto and June recognized it too so she hid behind Naruto who subconsciously moved his arm over her.

"You thought that trashing that coffin was going to keep it out of my grasp? You underestimate this old man and now you are going to stay put while I get out of this cursed ship with me, Lotus's number and the bracelet that I stole from that foolish man. Farwell and Naruto…" The blonde turned, "It was a great deduction. I am sure you want to be a detective soon. I dare you to make me your first arrest. I will be honored."

And just like that, Madara got away with Lotus leaving the others to just stay in the Hospital room. Ten Naruto started to walk in the direction of the ninth door, causing protests to arise in the air. "Just come with me and we will go after them." That somehow got everyone following the blonde. All except for Santa who promised to protect June for Naruto while waiting for them to come back

XXXXX

When they returned to the altar, they saw the ninth door again. But with their numbers, they couldn't get through the door after Madara with Lotus. They didn't know what to do until,

"Why we will go through Door [9] too." Naruto said with his usual confident tone.

"But that's impossible!" Seven shouted, "All of our numbers add up to [12] whose digital root is [3]! We can't go through the door!"

"What we need is the bracelet that was never used before, this one." Naruto showed a bracelet that showed [0]. "This is our last resort and we need to do this Seven." Naruto said and the mountain of a man was about to protest, they heard something. A thumping of someone knocking hard on wood. It came from the coffin on the altar.

The two hurried to the coffin and try to open it. Even with Seven's strength, the coffin wasn't moving. Then Seven turned to Naruto and asked to use the combination like before. Naruto was willing to do anything in order to get somewhere. After punching in the numbers, the coffin had opened to their surprise! Even more so was what came out, Snake! Snake garbed in a strange robe that barely covered his body.

"Snake! Naruto was right! You were alive!" Seven hugged Snake like best buddies who hadn't seen each other in years, not that the skinny man complained.

"It will seem that the blonde boy was cleverer than what he shown on us. I thank you for saving me Naruto and for helping my sister. Speaking of which, where is she? I didn't hear her voice yet." Snake said and Seven and Naruto just looked at each other; not knowing what to say.

"Anyway. We need to get you through the door so we can try to save Lotus from Madara." Naruto said and Seven nodded but Snake was confused until he recognized that name and not asked any questions. After trying to get through the door, it turned out that there were two things hidden in the open: one, that the bracelet number that Naruto had retrieved from Clover was not [0] but somehow [6] instead; two, Snake can go through even a numbered door because his right arm had become so thin, he could slip off a bracelet.

That was how they got through the ninth door and through a hallway after verifying at the DEAD, they came across a massive room with a pair of massive doors. The label that was eroded with time and lost most of its paint but the label was clear. It said, 'INCINERATOR'. Like where they burn things and dispose the ashes into the sea. But this was more than they can ever ask for once they entered.

XXXXX

Once they did, they were in for a nasty surprise. Madara was still there with Lotus in his arms and the gun in his open hand. "So you were able to follow me after all and that Snake was still alive. I always said you will make a good Sherlock Holmes so what do you think of me as Professor Moriaty?"

"Cut the talk old man. You can't get through the door so let's cut the chase and we all will get out alive." Naruto begged of Madara who just laughed.

"You are still just a kid and you must realize that you can't stop people from dying with that kind of attitude. Just like you couldn't stop Clover from her fate." Snake was confused by that and Madara smiled. "That is right Snake. You have missed it about your little sister."

"Stop! Don't say it!" Seven yelled but Madara won't stop,

"Clover was killed! By me!" Madara said which set of the time bomb and Snake turned into a man who lost a week's worth of sleep and now was filled to the brim with rage. So much the he had opened his eyes that were only filled with his anger at Madara. "That is right me! Join her now!" Madara then fired on Snake, causing the man to fall to the floor of the Incinerator.

But with that done, Madara had release Lotus who ran faster than a bird and into Naruto's arms. "As for the rest of you…" Madara said as he aimed his gun still loaded at the others, "Die for my escape!" But before he could pull the trigger, the impossible had happened. Snake rose like a zombie from the grave and matched to Madara who was in fear and shock. "NO! Stay away! Die!" Madara kept firing but that never stopped Snake from crawling over to the man and held the madman in place until a voice started to crackle into the air.

{Incineration phrase has been shortened to only twenty seconds. Please evacuate the Incinerator at once. Evacuate at once.} The lights in the room started to glow blood red as if to warn everyone inside to leave the room. Lotus already did but she noticed that while Seven was leaving, Naruto was not.

"Hurry Naruto-kun! Get out!" Lotus yelled out to him but the blonde only shook his head as proof he heard her.

"Not without Snake! I will not leave Snake! Not for what had happened to his sister! I promised Hinata!" Naruto yelled and not caring that he let a name slip his mind but then felt like a strong pair of arms grasped him.

"Sorry kid but I have no choice with a stubborn brat like you." Seven had grasped hold of Naruto who tossed and tangled in order to get out and to Snake who was holding onto Madara the whole time. Seven still charged out of the Incinerator when the doors fell and locked in place.

{Incineration phrase has been initiated.} "NOO!" Naruto yelled from the other side of the door while Madara also yelled at the top of his voice as the flames descended upon him.

"ARRGH! Why!? Why Zero!? What did I ever do to you!? Tell me who the hell you are! ZERO!" That was to be Madara's last words as his body was consumed by the flames in the Incinerator.

XXXXX

Silence fell on the only survivors left. Naruto finally got out of Seven's grasp and headed towards a staircase near the door. "Where are you going!? How do you know if you can come back the same way!?" Lotus protested but Naruto's head was not clear of the moment,

"I will find a way! I always do!" Naruto yelled as he fled up the stairs and ran to the Hospital room but no one was there, "…why? Why are you doing this to me?" Naruto said and he hurried back to where he came from, the altar room and found not Santa but June, no Hinata on the ground; she was pale and her breathe was very low, she was dying! "NOOO!"

Naruto had forgotten about anything else, just getting to June. When he reached for her body, it was starting to feel cold. She was on the verge of dying for sure! "W-why? No…no…no no no!" Naruto was like an madman as that was all he could say as he clutched the dying body of June, the girl that was his best friend and more than that; he loved her, he was hoping to tell her that once he got out but now…

"Naru-chan…" The blonde looked down to see that Hinata was slowly opening her eyes, she ass still conscious at least.

"Hinata-chan!" Naruto didn't care for codenames anymore, "Who did this to you!? I thought you will be safe with the others!"

"Naru-chan…I am…sorry…I wanted…to get out and…be with you…" Hinata was living her last moments but Naruto won't have it.

"No…please say your energy. There is a submarine Hinata-chan. We can escape in that. We can still be together." Naruto was now empty, his love was dying in his arms and he can't do a thing to stop it.

"No Naru-chan…it just wasn't meant to be..." Hinata was still cold but her eyes still had warmth and love that filled Naruto's suffering soul with. "Remember that time…when we were children?"

Naruto could just nod, he couldn't bear to make Hinata's last breathes go to waste. "That was when we always hanged out…we always had fun…you were my best friend…my only friend…" Naruto did nothing but remember those memories, they were the only thing smiling and laughing to Naruto. "We even joke…about us being married…we loved to play it…out…" Hinata was now losing her energy at an alarming rate. "We always did love it…so we promised…to…try it...for a change…" Hinata now more coughing than speaking but she still went on. "I…wanted…to…say Naru-kun…I…love…y~." That was it, Hinata's voice faded like dust in the win. She was gone, departed from this word as of this very moment and in Naruto's arms.

For a while he did nothing but still held her in his arms. He then looked at her, Hinata still looked beautiful even in death. Naruto then kissed on the frozen lips, not caring if they didn't respond back. Then her body had vanished, faded from existence on the spot, leaving Naruto all alone in the altar room. "NOOO! DAMM YOU ZERO!" Naruto unleashed a mighty roar until he noticed that he was getting drowsy again and saw some white smoke. This reminded him about his apartment room.

Naruto fell to the room and saw a familiar figure in black with a gas mask. This has to be Zero! {I am sorry Naruto. I never wanted any of this to happen. I only wanted you to find out the truth of the Nonary Game nine years ago. The one you call June is still alive and waiting. Waiting for you to solve the mystery like always. I will give this one last chance, don't waste it.} That was the last thing Naruto heard as he lost his strength in his body and later his sight as the world went black.

End of Chapter 15.

 ***What do you think? I am getting closer to finishing this story with only one last ending to publish. Expect it to be like the last chapter and I will work on the rest.***


	16. Time to Escape!

999

Time to Escape!

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or 999.**

 _Previously on 999: 9 Shinobi Behind 9 Doors with 9 Hours,_

 _Silence fell on the only survivors left. Naruto finally got out of Seven's grasp and headed towards a staircase near the door. "Where are you going!? How do you know if you can come back the same way!?" Lotus protested but Naruto's head was not clear of the moment,_

" _I will find a way! I always do!" Naruto yelled as he fled up the stairs and ran to the Hospital room but no one was there, "…why? Why are you doing this to me?" Naruto said and he hurried back to where he came from, the altar room and found not Santa but June, no Hinata on the ground; she was pale and her breathe was very low, she was dying! "NOOO!"_

 _Naruto had forgotten about anything else, just getting to June. When he reached for her body, it was starting to feel cold. She was on the verge of dying for sure! "W-why? No…no…no no no!" Naruto was like an madman as that was all he could say as he clutched the dying body of June, the girl that was his best friend and more than that; he loved her, he was hoping to tell her that once he got out but now…_

" _Naru-chan…" The blonde looked down to see that Hinata was slowly opening her eyes, she ass still conscious at least._

" _Hinata-chan!" Naruto didn't care for codenames anymore, "Who did this to you!? I thought you will be safe with the others!"_

" _Naru-chan…I am…sorry…I wanted…to get out and…be with you…" Hinata was living her last moments but Naruto won't have it._

" _No…please say your energy. There is a submarine Hinata-chan. We can escape in that. We can still be together." Naruto was now empty, his love was dying in his arms and he can't do a thing to stop it._

" _No Naru-chan…it just wasn't meant to be..." Hinata was still cold but her eyes still had warmth and love that filled Naruto's suffering soul with. "Remember that time…when we were children?"_

 _Naruto could just nod, he couldn't bear to make Hinata's last breathes go to waste. "That was when we always hanged out…we always had fun…you were my best friend…my only friend…" Naruto did nothing but remember those memories, they were the only thing smiling and laughing to Naruto. "We even joke…about us being married…we loved to play it…out…"_

 _Hinata was now losing her energy at an alarming rate. "We always did love it…so we promised…to…try it...for a change…" Hinata now more coughing than speaking but she still went on. "I…wanted…to…say Naru-kun…I…love…y~." That was it, Hinata's voice faded like dust in the win. She was gone, departed from this word as of this very moment and in Naruto's arms._

 _For a while he did nothing but still held her in his arms. He then looked at her, Hinata still looked beautiful even in death. Naruto then kissed on the frozen lips, not caring if they didn't respond back. Then her body had vanished, faded from existence on the spot, leaving Naruto all alone in the altar room. "NOOO! DAMM YOU ZERO!" Naruto unleashed a mighty roar until he noticed that he was getting drowsy again and saw some white smoke. This reminded him about his apartment room._

 _Naruto fell to the room and saw a familiar figure in black with a gas mask. This has to be Zero! {I am sorry Naruto. I never wanted any of this to happen. I only wanted you to find out the truth of the Nonary Game nine years ago. The one you call June is still alive and waiting. Waiting for you to solve the mystery like always. I will give this one last chance, don't waste it.}_

 _That was the last thing Naruto heard as he lost his strength in his body and later his sight as the world went black._

When Naruto awoke and fell to the ground, it happened one more time. He remembered everything that happen in this ship and they always ended with him dying. That meant he did something wrong, made the wrong choice, took things the wrong way. But now he knew what to do, where to go, what to do there and how he was going to get out of this ship with the one who is doomed to become a murder. And this time, Naruto Uzumaki is not to going to let anyone down that he wanted alive; not even Zero.

With flashes of the surroundings, a spark surged through his mind as it focused on a simple objective: Seek a way out!

XXXXX

The first thing Naruto always does in a treasure hunt is to gather what can be found in plain view so that he will have the strength left to find the others. And he did find such items, a note folded into two was attached to the bulletin board while on the sink was a picture frame containing the picture of a ship like the Titanic due to its shape and for being surrounded in fog.

The note was white in color but Naruto noticed that by the way he was holding it, there was a red line on the bottom to the left and ends at the folded indications. A blue line started at the same spot going to the right judging by the arrow on the end pointing in that direction. Above the red line a red bold triangle with the right angle at the top left corner; there was also a red triangle that was not bold with the right angle on the bottom right corner. Above the blue line with the arrow were triangles too in the color blue but were have opposite corners from top to bottom compared to the ones on the left.

Naruto didn't know what that meant but didn't care and kept looking only to see that the three bunk bed from which he fell from had a blue suitcase with a keyhole and a four digit lock so Naruto ignored it. Next to his three bunk bed was a tall pot with a cap on, the clear sign of hiding something so Naruto looked in to find a blue colored key; it was meant for the blue suitcase but without the four digit combination, it won't open. The stand carrying the pot had a door too so Naruto opened it while trying to not get his bottom wet from the rising waters; inside, he found a screwdriver.

It was prefect since the picture frame had screws in it. After loosening the screws, the picture came out of the frame and Naruto saw that there was something on the other side; it looked like the triangles on the note from the bulletin board. It meant to Naruto that the note contained half the combination to unlock the blue suitcase and this photograph was the key; so far, Naruto had deduced that the note said in order;

[7] [4] [6] [3]

That only meant that Naruto had to find a not similar to this one in order to get the entire combination for the blue suitcase as well as something red in color; maybe another suitcase. It didn't take long for Naruto to inspect the bunk beds and found another note indeed but it not just triangles but squares too on both sides. It also had a blue line and a red one with an arrow pointing to the right. It said this according to the key on the photograph;

[0] [2] [8] [5]

Now that Naruto had gotten the full combinations, he could open the suitcase but something had told him that he will need to find and open a red suitcase so he started to look for the suitcase and the key to open it. Naruto had found the red suitcase in a closet next to his bed bunk but when he found a red key taped to a full body mirror,

Naruto saw something that he couldn't take his eyes away from. There, in the reflection of the mirror, he saw himself for sure with his sun kissed blond hair and ocean blue eyes along with his weird birthmarks that resemble whisker marks. But, he saw that his eyes were baggy and his skin wriggled; he looked like he hadn't gotten any sleep in days, like he was nearly dead.

"Who did this to me? Why the hell is all this happening to me?" Naruto muttered until it hit him like a heavy mallet to the head. He remembered, remembered the exact things that happened before walking up in this room about to be submerged in water.

 _Flashback Begins!_

 _It was midnight when Naruto was finally back at his old apartment. When he joined college, he needed a place to stay and eat rather than at school and this was the closest place to the college he was studying at. Apartment room 201 was run down compared to the others, costing only 630$ a month which should barely scratched the fortune that his long deceased parents left him but Naruto had stayed in the one room affair for 3 years and 7 months so he was desperate in need for a job sooner or later to pay for the rest of his college days._

 _But this evening, Naruto noticed that his window was left open; he could have sworn to leave it closed when he left earlier that day. But when Naruto approached the window, to close and keep the cold evening wind out, he saw someone in the reflection! When Naruto turned to get a better look at the intruder, he couldn't tell much since it was someone wearing a thick black cloak with a gas mask covering the face but Naruto suddenly felt drowsy and dizzy. The room started to fill thick with white smoke._

 _{Consider this a privilege.} Naruto started to hear a strange voice that he didn't even recognize to be human at all; it was like the speaker spoke through a voice changer to hide their voice. {You have been selected to take part in a game. The [Nonary Game]. It is a game…where you will your life on the line.} That was the last thing Naruto remembered before passing out and the world became dark._

 _Flashback Ends!_

"That's right! That is what has happened to me! That bastard had gassed me in my apartment and took me here, where ever that is, for this [Nonary Game]!" Naruto said as he finished searching through his memories. Then the cold water reached half way to his kneecaps which alerted him back to reality. Now that he had both the combinations and the keys, he can open the suitcases and see what there is to use in order to get out.

The first order of business was the blue suitcase, the first one he found in the room. He used the combination according to the key found in the back of the ship photo that went like this: (0263). Along with the blue key, the suitcase opened to show a file book like those used to sort out papers and other things.

Inside this file book talked about a concept called the [digital root] which was found by adding a certain number of numbers and if the result is a double digit number, the two digits are combined to form the [digital root]. The example went like this; 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 = 14 1 + 4 = [5] so the [digital root] will be [5]. Along with this concept on paper were a set of three scan cards with the numbers [1], [2], and [3].

With that found, Naruto hurried to the red suitcase and entered the red key along with the combination from the notes translated by the key to be: (7485). Inside were a set of three scan cards too but with the numbers [6], [7] and [8]. That was it, there is nothing left to find in this room and the water was now knee high so Naruto trudged to the door.

He then got the mechanism that seemed to act like the doors lock so if Naruto can unlock it, the door will open and let him out. After trying every single one of the scan cards at once failed, Naruto realized that if he could try to find three numbers who [digital root] is [5] then the door will be unlocked. He eventually found the only possible group of numbers to be: [1], [6] and [7]. They add up like so: 1 + 6 + 7 = 14 1 + 4 = [5] That is why it work as the door now opened with a creaking sound but Naruto didn't care; the door was open and now he could escape.

XXXXX

And he did get out of the room and ran from the water that he nearly forgot was flooding the room he was in. He finally reached the main staircase once more and interacted with the eight strangers like usual. He also just watched on how everyone thought of the same code names and the ninth man kill him in a foolish attempt to get a head start. And now it was when Snake revealed to everyone that he had gotten a note with priceless knowledge,

Snake smiled too and after deducing that everyone else is listening, he showed the note to be covered in dots of seemingly random patterns; no one could read them but they recognized the language, it was braille. The written language of the blind. "I found it in a pocket and read it before meeting up with any of you. I dare say that this note has the last piece of info we need to know in order to escape." Suddenly, everyone crowded around Snake, hoping to hear what the braille note has to say about this game.

"What does it say!?" Santa was only a few inches from grabbing Snake and shake the answers from the blind prince. Snake sighed, "Now clam down. You don't need to force me to read. I intend to read it." Everyone swallowed their voices and waited for Snake to read and rubbed his hands on the little bumps that make of the note.

XXXXX

Bracelet number (2)…

Since you were not blessed with sight I will bless you—and only you—with information. I shall tell you the function of the RED, of the DEAD, and of the bracelet.

The [RED] is the Recognition Device. It will verify your number. Beside every numbered door, you will find a RED.

The [DEAD] is the Deactivation Device. It does exactly what it says. Once you have passed through the numbered door, you must use the DEAD to stop the [detonator] in your bracelet.

But perhaps you are wondering…what does the detonator detonate? I am afraid this may be something of a surprise. I have placed a [small bomb] inside of you, and the people whom you are about to meet.

You swallowed it while you were unconscious. I have no doubt that by the time you read this note, the bomb will have passed your stomach and found its way to your intestine. In other words, you will not be able to regurgitate it. I suggest you do not try.

As I mentioned before, the bracelet on your left hand contains a detonator. Think of it as a remote fuse, or [timer], for the bomb in your body. There is only 1 condition that will cause it to detonate. That condition is that you enter a numbered door. Once you have done so, the timer will activate, no matter who you may be. You will [81] seconds. If, after that time, the detonator has not been deactivated, it will send a signal to the bomb in your body, instructing it to explode.

In order to deactivate the detonator, [every person who verified their number at the RED] must also verify their numbers at the DEAD. Once all the numbers have been verified by the DEAD, you need only pull the lever at its side, and the countdown will cease and the persons' lives will be spared. Anyone who does not verify their number at the RED will find themselves unable to verify their number at the DEAD. That is to say, if you should pass through a numbered door without first verifying your number at the RED, in 81 seconds you will be dead.

You must also keep in mind that the numbered doors will close automatically after [9 seconds] have passed. So as long as the door is open, the DEAD will not function. You would do well to remember this.

Lastly, let us discuss [how to remove the bracelets]. There are only two ways to do so. One: You escape this ship. Two: your heart rate reaches zero. In other ways, once the bracelet is taken outside the confines of the ship, or detects that its wearer's heartbeat has fallen to zero, it will shut down automatically. There is no other way to remove your bracelet. If you attempt to force it off, or disable the detonator, the bomb with in you will immediately explode.

This is all the information which I impart to you. How you choose to use it is for you to decide. If used wisely, you can eliminate all those who might be a danger to you. For a time, you would be able to control your fate. I wish you the best of luck.

XXXXX

Everyone decided that the note made perfect sense but now will time to decide who is going through which door in order to progress. "I will like go through door [5]. I am blind so that blood bath of a man won't bother me."

Clover made one thing clear when she heard her brother say that. "No way am I going without you brother! I am going through door [5] too!"

Ace wanted to settle this by saying, "Very well. Seven and I will go along." Naruto did the math in his head; 1 + 2 + 4 + 7 = 14 1 + 4 = 5. So it worked and Clover jumped for joy when she heard that she will be with her brother and of course thanking Ace for making it happen.

Now with Naruto, June, Santa and Lotus left the numbers went like this; 3 + 5 + 6 + 8 = 22 2 + 2 = 4. Naruto can safely go through Door [4] with Hinata at his side. "I really don't want to leave her after reuniting so I will go with the others through Door [4]." No one protested or complained so the plan was set into motion; Ace, Snake, Clover and Seven will go first through Door [5] and then Naruto, June, Santa and Lotus will go through Door [4] after them.

The first group arrived at Door [5] and after they registered at the scanner, Snake pulled the lever that opened the door letting out the fool smell once more but Snake went on. He then passed after going through the door, "Hurry up or do you want me to die? Remember that the doors lose after nine seconds." The rest of Snake's group hurried through the doorway as it closed behind them.

The others rested their ears on the door to hear the same beeping as with the ninth man. Then voices were to be heard among the haunted beeping. "Our bracelets! What the hell is this!? Hurry! Let's find the DEAD!" "Is that it over there!?" "It must be! Hurry!" Naruto and the gang soon waited with baited breath as the voices died down but also the beeping was soon to halt as well.

They then heard the sounds of a sigh of relief. "Well? Did you do it!?" Naruto yelled hoping his voice made it through the thick metal doors.

"Yeah! We managed to cause the detonators to stop!" They sighed in relief when they heard Clover tell them that through the iron doors. "Just look for a device in the same shape as the RED, it is just in blue!"

"Okay! Thank you and good luck!" Naruto yelled as he got to door [4] with his group behind him. They all verified their numbers at the RED and Naruto looked back at them with his hand on the lever. "Ready?" They all nodded and Naruto opened the door. "GO!" Naruto and his group charged to beat the door before it will close on them. When they did, the two doors shut completely behind them and then the familiar beeping started to hit their ears. They looked down on their bracelets to see that the numbers were replaced with a digital skull image; no doubt the sign of the detonator counting down to set he bomb off.

"Come on! Where is the hell is the DEAD!?" Santa yelled and the group looked at the hallway to be filled with rooms! "Dammit! Don't tell me that the DEAD Is in one of those rooms!"

"NO! We don't have the time to search every single one!" Lotus panicked until Naruto looked at the end of the hallway and saw something that caught his eye.

"Follow me!" Naruto charge down the long hall with his scared and desperate group chasing after him only to see a device similar to the Red indeed and also in the color blue. They raced to place their hands on the device and Santa pulled the lever when they were done, the beeping stopped and the bracelets once again showed their individual numbers.

Naruto and his team collapsed with the walls as their only support to catch their breath as they were barely a minute from death by internal bombing or any other way of saying that. They all tried to calm down and breathe normally again, they had to run for their lives for goodness sake. Once they finally did, they got a good look at the double door near the DEAD, they were fancy and this time had a keyhole with the male symbol in the shape of a circle that had an arrow point in the north east direction.

"Is this?" Naruto was about to say until June giggled and answered for him,

"That is the astronomical symbol for [Mars], brother planet to [Earth]." June surprised everyone by knowing about the symbols for the planet when she explained that the keyhole back in the ball room with the two numbered doors had the symbol for Earth based on the spherical shape with the two lines on it; she also described the symbol on key reader as well to be of [Saturn].

Still, without a key, the doors will never open. Thankfully, there were still options to choose from; there were two doors opposite to each and were also near the DEAD and the double doors at the end. After being used to locked doors, Naruto and the others actually wanted to try opening them. To their surprised, both of the doors yielded to their efforts rather easily.

"Okay Santa, you and lotus check the room you are in. June and I will check this one. I will also trade rooms to see if we can find the key to get out!" Naruto addressed the situation and everyone nodded. Now, with these rooms that look upper class quarters, it is time just like in the bottom deck cell room; seek a way out!

XXXXX

Naruto first got a glimpse of the living room, with a trophy case that was empty and a couch was stuff in one of the opposite corners with a table that had nothing but a full box of matches on it. Naruto took it because who knows when matches were going to prove to be useful. But as soon as he pocketed the match box, Naruto realized something and went back to June.

"Hey June. Is your fever any better?" June smiled and answered,

"Why yes I am. I feel much better now." Naruto can tell because June sure looked fine. But Naruto placed his hands on her forehead to see for himself. Her skin felt neither cold nor hot which meant that Naruto had nothing to worry about. "Are you worried about me?"

"Of course I am June." Naruto answered without much hesitation. "You were my best friend until you had to move away. I was about to live my life without seeing you again. I am not letting you out of my sight or my life any time soon."

June started to blush brightly, "Thank you Naruto. I wanted to see you for quite the time myself but I wished that the circumstances were better." Naruto could only chuckle and notice how cute June seemed to be with the red blush marks on her cheeks. Until of course she turned a lot more serious, "By the way, Naru-chan…"

"Yeah?"

"How did you end up here?" Naruto couldn't believe that it was June of all people who is asking that question.

"I thought I have told you, I was kidnapped from the apartment I rented out for my college life. This Zero got into my room and gassed me into unconsciousness. I then woke up on the 'D Deck'." Naruto tried to tell the story again and June nodded the whole way before getting to the point.

"That is what you said but is it true?" Naruto couldn't believe what June is trying to say; like his memories of what happened before waking up here were untrue? "Are you hiding something from me?"

"You idiot!" June flinched at that tone, "I thought you were still my friend but now you don't trust half that much as years ago!? I have nothing to do with this game bullshit unlike you!" June started to cry which made Naruto sign in frustration, "What I am saying is that I have told you everything and I am just a normal college student and you who disappeared years ago had been here this whole time?"

"NO! This is the first time I have been here!" June shouted but Naruto had dealt with liars before, June had that look in her eye. She knows she is lying and her eyes are uneasy as a result. This skill helped Naruto escape the words of scammers and otherwise all liars who tried to torment him after his parents died. But before Naruto could say anything else, June just went somewhere else to cool down; she must have felt guilty after accusing her best friend of keeping secrets from her when she was doing herself.

Soon enough June saw that Naruto was looking an abstract picture of seemingly random blots in random places. But it seemed that Naruto was able to see what the picture was so June just told him that she felt better enough to keep looking. Naruto agreed and they tried out the bedroom next and found a bed that can't be found in most stores; it had the mattress and pillows as well as clovers but it had railings too, to keep the passengers from falling off the bed when the ship rocked.

"It is big enough for two and even has two pillows on the mattress." Naruto said until he noticed that June was starting at the bed with redness on her cheeks. Naruto then smirked, he was a college student by day but a prankster king by night; and his latest prank was to lift June into his arms and lay her into the double bed like his one year daughter at sleeping time.

"EEK! What are you doing!?" June was a little scared by this but she then noticed that Naruto was getting into the bed with her!

"You got your fever back so I had to let you lie in this bed until you get better but I couldn't leave you all lonely in here. Can't I?" Naruto spoke in his prankster tone that made June blush full face this time and feeling like she was tricked into being in bed with Naruto; that was her fantasies not long ago.

Fifteen minutes or so later, Naruto decided not to waste any more time left but he did enjoy sleeping with June in bed; she was like a kid's favorite stuffed animal, comfortable and barely even moving to hit in the wrong places. When Jun recovered from a near brain overload, Naruto uncovered a map of the 'B Deck' in the room and a key that seemed to be the wrong one to use on the doors outside.

"Can you stay here as I check out the other room?" Naruto asked of June who was surprised to be asked of such a thing before blushing again.

"Sure leave it to me." June said with the tone of being praised and counted on. When Naruto reached the other room, Lotus and Santa were still looking. Naruto had found a candlestick complete with a fresh candle and a dark bedroom would you know? Once Naruto had lit the candle with the matches, he saw that the bed had a folded curtain on the sheets.

Even though the candle went out, Naruto had found a hidden key in where the candle goes. He even used the key from the bedroom in June's room to open the drawer of this bedroom and found a square block with abstract art on it. Naruto then looked at the hidden key in the candlestick and wondered what it was ill unlock once he got out of the dark bedroom. It turned out that the candlestick key opened the trophy box that was filled with art compared to the one he left June in. Inside was another block of abstract art like one in the dark bedroom.

"It will seem that [9] is Zero's favorite number." Lotus's voice had broken Naruto's thoughts and even got Santa's attention.

"What was your first clue?" Naruto sighed at how uncouth Santa always prove to be. Lotus didn't seem to be angry at Santa's rudeness.

"Nine strangers, nine doors to go through, nine hours to escape and the [Nonary Game]." Naruto had a good idea to Lotus's direction in this conversation. Santa, not so much.

"So? We all know that because we had to listen to that motherfucking voice of that bastard Zero!" Somehow, Santa saw that Naruto glared at him for acting out of hand around a woman and that boy with the silver hair remained silent. The woman smiled at Naruto, respectful for woman but not afraid to take charge even against his own girlfriend.

"Thank you Naruto and I will explain my point. The theme of this game is the number nine, even in the title of the game has nine in it." Lotus explained. "The "nona" in [Nonary Game] is a Latin prefix like "uni" means [1] in unicorn, or "bi" means [2] in binary, or "tri" means [3] in triple."

"So "nona" means nine right?" Naruto took to it like a student to a professor's lecture and Lotus nodded. "I get it and think that we are bond to find more [9] related stuff as we get deeper into the game."

While Santa and Lotus though hard on what he said, Naruto wanted to check something out and saw that the same painting as the first room had only one fourth of it left. That meant that Naruto will have the find one more of the tiles in order to complete the painting. But first, he wanted to know why there was a shower curtain in the double bed.

After handing it up, he saw that there was a hole in the curtain at a certain point, like he was supposed to see through this hole and see something important. It turned out to be a title fifth from the bottom and the third from the right but there was nothing about that title in this bathroom. Naruto thought it was for the bathroom in the other passenger's quarters so he went over to check it out when,

"Naruto." The blonde turned to see Santa looking at him while he was still in the doorway. "Can I talk to you?" Without giving him time to start, Santa gave something to Naruto. "Please take this." Naruto gave a closer a look to see that it was bookmark with the image of a [four leaf clover].

"Why give it to me? If you found it, it should belong to you and give you good luck." Naruto said in confusion but Santa sure didn't appreciate the blonde's words as he shivered like he was in the cold of an evening winter's night.

"Please just take it. They never gave me good luck in my whole life but do you know that the four leaves do more than that?" Naruto didn't know what to make of it and just shrugged. "They stand for the four things I hate most in the whole world: **Hope** , **Faith** , **Love** and **Luck**." Naruto was shocked to hear that Santa had a life where he will admit to hate all those positive emotions and concepts. "So can you just keep that fucking thing the hell away from me? I had to find it between some of the cushions in this room; I don't even know why I brought other for the heck of it. I hate those things so please keep the dam thing already!"

"Okay! Okay I will keep it!" Naruto shouted in order to calm Santa down and hurried to June's room; the girl didn't know why the blonde was in such a hurry. She just followed him until something had caused them to be in the room area of the bathroom with the curtain closed; it was a very awkward moment, they just imagined themselves using a shower together like a married couple.

Still, Naruto was able to remember the title to try out and same with the bathroom with the curtain with the hole, it was lose and the remaining abstract art title was found. Naruto went back to the other room and rearranged the painting to be a copy of the one from the first room. That caused the painting to extend and lower to reveal a hidden compartment where a key that had the mercury symbol on the handle. That was the one to use to get out!

Now with the key in hand, Naruto was about to run and find June and tell the good news but Lotus hold him back. "Sorry Naruto it is just…what do you see in this painting?" Naruto answered that it was dog when you separate the white blots from the black and point out the legs, tail and feet. "I asked is because I think I saw this picture before."

Naruto and Santa gasped at that. It could mean something and they were hell not going to let this chance drop out of their grasp. "Where?" Naruto said in a soft requesting tone, beating the usual foul mouth and blunt Santa to it.

"In a book." Lotus said simply. "There is a biochemist named [Sheldrake]. He has a rather interesting theory. I saw this picture in his book." Naruto's curiosity was growing like weeds in fertile soil.

"What is this interesting theory?" Naruto asked for more details out of Lotus and he had no idea what the answer could have in store for him, his group or anyone else in this entire game.

"[Morphogenetic Field], which relies on the theory of [morphic resonance]…" Lotus was interrupted by Santa who had enough of listening and not talking.

"Arrgh. Just stop this, it is giving me a headache. OWW!" Santa got his own bump on the head, courteous of Naruto who was steaming in his ears.

"That is giving you a headache Santa and if you keep interrupting, I will have the headache. Now shut up and stay that way so Lotus can try to explain it better." Naruto got the response he wanted: Santa cowering with the bump fresh on his scalp while Lotus smiled and continued.

"Thank you Naruto. It is not a difficult concept to grasp. In essence, he states that the "shapes of living organisms and their behavioral patterns are transmitted through a field not visible to the naked eye"." Lotus went into detail; Santa still was confused but Naruto was actually thinking of proofreading those words into something that was sure to be more understandable.

"So you are saying that there is a field that we can't see but if we can tap into it, we can send information to other living beings with the field?" Lotus smiled and nodded, "Is that the whole thing?"

Lotus shook her head, "No there is another way to look at it. There is the **Theory of the Telepathic Mechanism**." Naruto nodded and urged her to go on with,

"Telepathy? Like in those science fiction novels about the ability to protect your thoughts into the minds of others and read their minds?" Lotus seemed to be in glee that she had the best listener in her life or something.

"Yes, telepathy." Then Lotus got into a more thinking hard posture. "Well, perhaps not exactly telepathy, but it is close enough, for a simple approximation." Naruto took this for consideration which could be said better when Santa finally recovered from his nasty bump on the head.

"Hahaha! Do you think we are as stupid as kids from the 70s? I can't believe that someone like you will take all this seriously! OWW DAMMIT!" Santa seemed to not notice Naruto's expression of impatience and intolerance for all this and now the silver haired boy had two bumps on his head in single file or something.

"And just what type of someone do you take Lotus for? She is having a breakthrough that might just help explain the meaning of this game." Despite having his group look at him like he had gone mad, Naruto never faltered and just urged Lotus to continue once again.

"Yes, anyways I agree with that." Lotus started with Santa wondering why Naruto still hit him on the head twice as hard as before. "I read the book, but I can hardly say I understood it. I'm am in no position to defend or condemn anything it said. It was probably just someone latching on to a statistical out-lier from some study and turning it into a ridiculous theory. There is no scientific merit to any of it, I'm sure."

"Wow Lotus, I thought you weren't the type to give up just like that. It is like you are saying that reading novels are a waste of time only because they are not based on what actually happened. What happened to telling your kids bedtime stories knowing they were just made up?" Naruto took a huge downhill dive for all this and surprised Lotus,

"Even so…I…" Then the busty dancer woman trialed off and didn't say another word and neither than the two boys in the same room until, "Anyway, I saw a picture like this one in his book." Then Lotus asked what the painting was about and Naruto answered in the way to June back in her room.

Speaking of which, the woman and silver haired boy were shocked and impressed respectably. Lotus couldn't believe it, "How did you know? You are correct. I didn't think that you would have been able to guess that." Seeing that Naruto and Santa wanted an explanation to her shock, she went on to do so.

"A TV show in Great Britain did an experiment once. They took two similar photos. Both of them were difficult to identify, initially… But once you'd figured out the answer, you couldn't see it as anything else. The first one was a **woman wearing a hat**. The other one…well, to make it easier… …Let's just say it was this **picture of a dog**." Naruto and Santa nodded, "So. Their experiment…" Lotus took in a huge breath and began sharing the details.

"First, they sent the pictures to other parts of the world where British radio and television couldn't reach. To Ireland, the U.S., Africa, Europe, etc. Then, in each country, they gathered a number of test subjects. All in all, there were roughly 1,000 people. Those 1,000 people were shown the 2 pictures, and asked "What does this picture look like to you?" The results, in and of themselves, were not terribly interesting… [9.2%] of the people saw the **lady** in the **lady picture**. [3.9%] of the people saw the **dog** in the **dog picture**."

"Then, 2 days later…They broadcast a new show. During the 30 minute show, they broadcast the **dog picture** , and its solution. The audience was estimated to be 200,000 people. After the broadcast, it could be assumed that the number of people who knew solution to the **dog picture** now totaled 200,000 people."

"After 2 days had passed, they gathered a number of research subjects from areas where British TV and radio did not exist. This time, they were only able to find a sample of roughly 850 people. Naturally, none of them were people who had participated in the 1st test. They were, however, given the same test, and the same 2 pictures. The results…were shocking. [10%] of the people saw the **lady** in the **lady picture**. The previous test yielded had a [9.2%] success rate—the charge was not statistically significant. The **dog picture** , however, had produced a very different result. The percentage of people able to successfully find the **dog** grew from [3.9%] to [6.8%]. A very significant change."

Lotus finished with, "So, do you understand? Do you realize the significance of this experiment?" Santa was still confused but Naruto had a good idea for this,

"That somehow, after the first test, more people was able to get the right answer even though they never took the first test or even learned of the solution from the participants of the first test?" That was length for sure but Lotus nodded.

"That was seen as a sign that there was a morphogenetic field that in which emotions, knowledge and insight can traverse from people's mind in different locations altogether. If you still don't believe it then fine, let's just get out of here." Lotus said, leaving the two boys in the room while Naruto went after her to get June. Santa stayed behind a little longer, he seemed to be thinking hard on it.

'Maybe that is why they were kidnapped? To tap in this field? Than why the hell did anyone want to…?' Santa finished muttering and left the room after getting one last look at the abstract painting of the dog.

XXXXX

Finally, Naruto had told June they could get out and she soon joined Santa and Lotus in front of the double doors, heled together by a keyhole with the mercury symbol on top. He looked at everyone and gave a reassuring nod as if to say that whatever is on the other side of this door will never take them down. Naruto placed in the key inside and turned it to unlock the double doors.

A hallway on the other side and so were bars dividing the hallway leaving only another door accessible. Inside was a large and open spaced room; a room with the appearance and atmosphere belonging only to a kitchen, a place where food is cooked. Still there is was no way to get the other side of the gate outside, unless the key the key. Time to Seek A Way Out!

XXXXX

There first thing Naruto did when he started looking was to see something about the table in front of him. There were stacks with different amounts to them, Naruto checked them out. "Look Lotus. These plates must be what the waiters place the prepared food on."

The woman smiled and nodded, "Yes there are, the one over there." Lotus pointed to the pile to their far left, "Are for the appetizers, something light enough to keep those customers on waiting for the rest of the food. Like this pile has the soup plates." Naruto could see why they were named that; they were like the plates but the indentation was deeper, to keep the soup from falling off the plate. Lotus called the other two to be the meat dish and seafood dish until Naruto noticed something to the far left of them all, it was a voucher or a piece of paper to tell the chiefs what the customers will like to eat.

Yet it made no sense. It said "Appetizer 9, Meat dish 10, Soup A, Seafood dish F." There were nine appetizer plates but the soup dish pile had ten, the seafood dish pile had 15 and the meat dish had more like sixteen. That was curious indeed but just staring at the counter wasn't going to get Naruto or anyone anywhere fast so they decided to take it to bed. When they found a sink, it was filled with water that had plates inside. Santa said that the plates in there weren't going to help but then Naruto found a whetstone; stones used for sharping the rusted and dulled in a kitchen, that will be useful somewhere.

The next stop was a door on the other side of the one the group just went through; it turned out to be a pantry, where food is stored until being used for the dishes made for the customers. Looking through the shelves, Naruto found a bottle of cooking oil and decided to take it along. He also found a rusted knife in a box so when Naruto was about to use the whetstone to fix it, June spoke up.

"That knife. It is **futile**." June wasn't scared, calm or even having her fever but instead was serious. She knew what she was thinking and wanted to keep doing it. Naruto wanted in on the answers as well.

"What brought this up?" June smiled and answered,

"The book which was named **Futility**." Naruto knew what she was talking about so he wanted to hear the rest from her. "After all, it has something to do with the Titanic. Whatever or not this is a copy." Naruto and June never brought up that they had a serious conversation on what ship they were in; it was similar to the Titanic but since the ship is at the bottom of the sea, it must be a similar ship or a replica of the doomed cruise linear. "Have you ever heard of the story that the sinking of the Titanic was predicted?"

"Oh yeah I do." Naruto had a smile that both brought hope to June's face but soon dashed all that faith in his next sentence, "I heard about how it all was a fraud." June was shocked so Naruto decided to spare her of the suspense, "I heard that the author who heard of the titanic sinking realized that since his novel was about such a doomed ship, he decided to claim he saw it by changing things in his novel to match that of the real ship. He nearly fooled everyone but when the original copy was compared to the new version of the story that was supposed to be proof that he saw it coming, the author was found to be a fraud and what happened to him was not pretty." June was now looking down on her feet, she must have believed the author and to find out it was all just a big hoax, it must be shocking to her but…

"But that wasn't the first time it happened! There were two other stories made about the sinking of the Titanic before it even happened!" Naruto couldn't help but smirk at how bold June was in order to defend her idol or something. "They couldn't have been faked! They were never updated after the actual sinking of the Titanic!"

Naruto said nothing and waited for June to catch her breath. Then, "That is okay. I firmly believe that having no faith in anything is just the same of giving up. After all, if we don't believe in what life can offer than how are we supposed to enjoy it?" June was wondering where this was going for a change. "Anyway, can you explain that the stories were actually written by human hands if they were actually predicting the future? Was he like an alien?"

"NO!" Naruto was alarmed at that outburst. "The author was not an alien! I believe that he did this because he had supernatural powers. I think that he was capable of **automatic writing**." That threw Naruto for a while.

"Automatic writing? So you are saying that the author wrote the book because someone else had used his hands to do all of it?" June nodded and waited for Naruto's opinion on all this; he might reject it all including her but, "To be honest, this has been one hectic day so I will try anything to make sense of it. Just, when we get out, if you need someone to back you up when others bully you for believing, you can always count on me to do the job." With that said, Naruto left June blushing and smiling; her best friend may have grown but somethings will never change and that is a blessing for sure.

After all that from the pantry, Naruto saw that there was another door that was bolted with a rusty lock; but with cooking oil, Naruto should do the trick. "Hey! What are you doing?" Santa demanded while Naruto ignored him in order to apply the cooking oil to get the door unlocked. After some elbow grease, the blond was able to move the bolt to unlock the door. But his surprise came when the door was open.

The room unleashed killer frost temperatures that immediately caused Naruto to fold his arms and shiver in it. The room could only be one thing, "Looks like we finally found the freezer." It was where food goods that demanded to be preserved was stored like the rest of the food in pantry; waiting to be used by the cooks in the kitchen.

"W-whoa." Santa shook like a deer just born which wasn't surprising given the nature of the room. Lotus never once took a step close.

"Sorry guys but I was never able to take the cold very good. Just find what you can and get out of that room." No one stopped here since she had the clothes of a dancer from like the Arabian nights that took place in a desert for goodness sake!

But when they tried to get closer and look around, there was a loud sound coming from behind them. When they looked, the group saw to their horror. The door had been frozen solid when one of the water pipes broke loose and freezing in the cold temperatures. "Dammit! Lotus, hurry and open the door from your side!" Naruto and Santa yelled out in their panic while hearing a woman's footprints from outside.

"Fine. Let me at the door." They could hear her grunting and straining but the door didn't much as shake. "Sorry but I can't open it. Good luck in there." Naruto signed, sometimes that woman was useless.

So they hurried to see what was to be found. On the floor was a hatch that contained an empty water bottle along with some sturdy rope. With nothing else left, Santa found some frozen pork on the shelf that also had some kind of tag sticking out that was unreadable and unsafe to try and pull out; he just kept it for safe keeping. In one of the fridges, they found a bag filled with…dry ice!

"That stuff, is supposed to explode in an airtight container when applied with a force to the container?" Naruto asked and Santa nodded along with June. "If we could break it into different pieces, we can create a makeshift bomb that will get us out of here!" Naruto went back to searching the fridge and found a chicken leg frozen stiff. It was hard enough to shatter the dry ice into smaller pieces while still inside the bag.

But before Naruto could get started on making the dry ice bomb, June finally spoke up. "Carbon dioxide's sublimation point is -109 degrees. Any warmer than that, it'll turn into a gas. Andy colder, it becomes into a solid." Santa was not interested but Naruto wanted to figure out just how June keeps pulling out just the right info from seemingly nowhere. She then giggled at his expression that said it all, "You might not know this but I have a reputation as the Qleen…bleh. Ahem…the Queen of Random Knowledge." Naruto stopped June in her tracks; he remembered on how she loved to play around when they were little and June was known as Hinata.

"Just tell us more about dry ice." Santa then started to speak out of his shivers,

"Yeah like why does it turn into a gas from a solid? Don't these things become a liquid first?" Now that Naruto wanted to get out of the freezer, he did find it rather odd too. June then explaining it right away.

"But it can turn into a liquid." That was just like a paradox, it makes no sense because the parts contradict each other. "Carbon dioxide turns into a liquid if you put it under high enough pressure."

"But at 1 atmosphere, normal air pressure…" Santa started, "It won't turn into a liquid, right?" Now that was very useful and answered a lot of questions. June nodded,

"That's right. Instead of melting, it'll do what's called "sublimating", and change immediately from a solid state to a gaseous one." Santa nodded too.

"See, that is weird. Water's a liquid between 32 degrees and 212 degrees…" Naruto kept silent as well as June. "So why isn't the case for carbon dioxide?" Santa brought it to the point in a tone that seemed to not be expecting answer but June replied with one that stunned them both.

"There is a kind of ice that doesn't turn into liquid when it goes above 32 degrees." Not one boy answered as they wanted more as they seemed to not hear about all this from anywhere.

"I…heard of it. Its melting point is 96 degrees."

" **Ice that won't melt until it reaches room temperature**?" June nodded to Naruto's response.

"You mean there is **water that freezes at 96 degrees**?" June nodded again to Santa's query.

Naruto was still freezing to death in this godforsaken freezer but he just couldn't ignore all this so he asked another question. "What is this **ice with the melting point of 96 degrees** called?"

"I heard is called [ice-9]." Santa asked to be sure and June responded. "Originally, it was a made up substance invented by a science-fiction author." She took in a huge breath, "…But scientists have confirmed that a substance does exist." Naruto wanted to know if this 'Ice-9' is actually water or not. "You could think of it as a polymorph of H20." June explained that it is similar to the relationship of carbon in diamonds and graphite; depending on the crystallization and layout of the atoms, the substance's nature changes. This concept also applies to H20 or the atoms of water so there can be an **ice that melts at 96 degrees**. Yet June wasn't done with her story. "Have you heard the story about the crystallization of glycerin?" No one said yes or even raise their hands so June went into detail that went like this:

"For 150 years after the discovery of glycerin, people cooled it, warmed it, and did all sorts of things too it… But whatever they did, it never crystallized. However, one day in 1920…"

"Some glycerin was en route to England by ship was discovered to have crystallized during the trip. Naturally, scientists worldwide wanted to research this new, crystallized form of glycerin, and begun asking for samples of the seed. A seed is, of course, a sample of the original crystallized substance. With a seed crystal, further crystallization of glycerin would be a simple matter. However…something very strange happened."

"Not only did the glycerin encouraged by the seed crystals begin to crystallize, nearby samples did as well. It didn't end there. After that day, all glycerin in the world began to crystallize naturally when cooled down to less than 64 degrees. Before that day, no matter how glycerin was cooled, it refused to crystallize. But once the crystallization begun…"

"It was like every single glycerin atom was communicating with each other from all around the world. …And that is it." June finished and the boys were fascinated by the story; who knew that atomic structures must have told each other what to do even miles apart? But anyway, it wasn't going to get them out of the freezer so Naruto went to work on the bomb. He carefully placed the dry ice in the water bottle and then tied the rope tightly around the bottle. That pressure was starting to act on the dry ice; the sign that the bomb is going to work. Naruto then attached the bomb to the door to get it ready to explode but they didn't think of where to hide and be safe from the debris that might be the aftermath of the explosion.

They ultimately decided on hiding under the hatch and Naruto saw some left over dry ice to throw at the bomb. Holding them with his sleeve, and ignoring the burning that still felt in his hands, Naruto picked a large chunk and landed it on the bomb after closing the hatch. The explosion could be felt and when they opened the hatch, the ice on the doorknob was gone! The bomb idea worked!

Naruto wasted no time in charging out of the freezer with Santa and June behind him. While Santa was complaining to Lotus who was sitting on the counter the whole time, Naruto took the chance and used the whetstone on the rusty knife because the blonde knew it to be clear that he will need it. Then he took out the frozen piece of pork and placed it on a light stove that wasn't of much use before the incident in the freezer.

"What are you doing? What if the piece of paper in there burns?!" Lotus was shocked at how reckless Naruto was behaving.

"Then I will keep my eye on it and used this knife to cut the paper out. Any problems?" Lotus didn't answer and Naruto went back to viewing the pork until the meat turned from frosted red to pure red which meant that the meat had successfully defrosted. Like he said he would, Naruto carefully cut open the dork and let the paper tag come out naturally. It said in ink:

C + 10 + F

"What the hell does that mean!?" Santa ranted but Naruto had a good feeling about this one; the trail never left off yet and it isn't going to stop now. Naruto went over to find an oven with a lock on the doors, keeping them closed. The lock had no key hole or key reader or scanner like the others. It was like a safe, you had to place in the right numbers to get to unlock and open or in this case, you will have to punch in the numbers by the number buttons.

Naruto stopped in front, got on his knees and stared at the note. "What is it!?" Santa was getting impatient since he was already in a bad mood as it is. Naruto just shushed him before turning on the lock. He then punched in the number (43) which had got the door open! Everyone else was shocked at what they saw as Naruto reached in and took out a security key with the Saturn symbol on.

"How did you do that!?" Lotus yelled and Naruto actually put up a calm look while he explained himself.

"I knew that the tag from the pork had the key and I remembered that the voucher and the plat piles on the counter. They go together and that is why I found them all in the same place. Put them together, you get nine for appetizers, 10 for soup that actually means A so C must be twelve, fifteen for seafood which can also be F in the same system. But for meat, it was ten for sixteen. All that matched the numbers on the tag so I did the math in my head. C = 12, F = 15 and 10 =16. 12 + 16 + 15 = 43. That is how I got that number which happened to be the right one for the lock on the oven door."

June was like a kid who saw her favorite idol and hero do his stuff. Santa was gaping like a dish fish. And Lotus? She was smiling and clapping for the splendid deduction made by the blonde. 'This boy had figured out the hexadecimal system from plates and a voucher? This kid will go far for sure. June is such a lucky girl.'

Naruto went to the locked door out of the kitchen with the key card but before he could try it on the door, "Wait!" Santa had finally recovered from his shock and halted Naruto. "That is the key for something else! How is that going to get us out of here?"

"Maybe Zero knew you will doubt that and it will work anyways, that is why I am going to keep this card after we get out unless you don't want us to leave." Naruto retorted calmly and got Santa to standby and put a little more trust in the blonde. It turned out that the key did work and the door did unlock. The way out has been uncovered and found!

XXXXX

After unlocking the door out of the kitchen and away from the freezer, it was time to decide where to go next because there could be more than the stairs. Naruto just was wondering why he had a feeling that there was something off about the stairs. Meanwhile, Lotus took out the map and laid it on the floor.

"Okay. We know have four possible ways to go." She pointed to the stairs, a hallway to the left, and two doors that were on the right of the stairs. "Both A and B are going to this L-shaped room, C will be down the hallway and D is the stairway."

So they went to see which can be used, and will you know it? Both A and B were all locked doors. And C just went to behind door [5], where the remains of the Ninth Man were. So D was their only option so they decided to take it.

They soon reached the 'C Deck' and the stairs leading to the 'D Deck' were still flooded but seemed no different from before they even entered the two doors. The doors on the ends of the two hallways to either side of the stairway were locked so they went directly away from the stairs to find the biggest double doors yet. They all opened to a vast room that was lined with wheeled beds that had thin mattresses and no sheets. At the far back were four double doors, three of them had numbers on them. The one on the far right had the number [8], the one second from the right had the number [7] and the one on the far left had the number [3].

No one was able to make out of this room, they all thought this was a luxury cruise liner from the quarters in the upper decks but this looked more like a…"Is this a hospital ship?" June asked, not feeling too excited about how things turned out and neither her group did any better. But before any of them could give their food for thought, the doors open again to show…

"Snake!" Naruto yelled in good spirit, he was right along, they were going to be reunited with the first group after all. They, of course, didn't know how it happened.

"How did you guys get here?" Seven said with clear disbelief while Clover and Ace were still in shock. Naruto was able to explain to them that the two doors were linked by showing them the map of the 'B Deck'.

"So now what? Should we go through the numbered doors?" Lotus asked but the first group shook their heads strangely,

"We tried already, the REDs don't work. We have been trying to find that last piece to each of them when we heard new footsteps and voices coming to this room so we wanted to see who it was." Ace explained in a sad, defeated tone that mirrored the rest completely. Naruto wanted to see for himself and saw that there was indeed a missing part that allowed power to enter the REDs. Even trying to verify his number did nothing.

"Maybe Zero screwed up?" Santa said in a confident, self-awarding smirk that got everyone doubtful.

"No. Zero went all this planning and now we can't move on because of a smile forgetful mistake?" Seven said until they all heard Naruto's humming rather loudly. Only June seemed to recognize it.

"Ssh." June made a silencing motion with her finger at everyone. "That is when Naru-chan gets serious about a case. He is trying to think about this." Santa and Lotus was surprised for only a little while after seeing that had got them out of the kitchen back there.

Sooner or later, Naruto opened his eyes to show what he had cooked up. "I don't think this was a mistake, I think that Zero did this on purpose." He was bombarded by protests and questions so he went on. "Think. Zero seemed to have planned all this in order to see that we can escape but if he also made sure that we don't by tampering with the game, then he will never get anything proven in the first place. Why did he halt our progress, knowing that we have no other way but to activate the RED and go through the numbered doors?" Everyone stopped to think, for someone like Zero, it was foolishness and also hypocritical since Zero had allowed them to escape and wish us luck but try to prevent them from escaping altogether. "I think that Zero wants us to split up in order to do something that we cannot know yet."

"What!" Lotus said before running into the hallways, looking in denial. "You mean that Zero wants us to search all these rooms on purpose!?"

"I will seem that Zero can control out fate from wherever he is stationed. Let's just search until we hear the chime for 10 o'clock and return to the hospital room." Naruto said firmly and went to cover some ground, one after another went to the same until they were all looking. Soon, the chime was heard across the entire 'C Deck'….6…7…8…9…10. The next one never came so it was time for Naruto to return back to base in the hospital room like he suggested.

When he did, he found everyone standing in front of the numbered doors or more specifically the RED of door [7]. Naruto wanted to find out what was the commotion about and learned something that sent shivers through his skin. "Oh Naruto. Someone had fixed the REDs and got them working again."

"So, what is the trouble?" Naruto asked until Clover answered in a tone that closely match a kid who lost their favorite stuffed bunny.

"My brother is missing." Naruto had the foreboding feeling once again but this time, he knew the answer, the real one.

"Then let's go look for him." Naruto tried to lift the heavy atmosphere. So they searched all the rooms but they couldn't find Snake, Naruto just played along until the only doors left will be the numbered doors in the hospital room. Naruto knew which one behind each one but he wanted to do something that he was never able to do before, make that two things. So he made his decision, "I want Door [7]."

Naruto looked at everyone who gave their own responses to that answer of his. Lotus was smiling that she got the blonde to see her way. Ace was no different since it didn't matter to him that much. Santa and Seven didn't care, they were able to get somewhere. June was worried, she is still not going to be with Naruto again and maybe this won't be like the first two doors. Clover was still down that her brother is still missing.

"Alright, that is what I am talking about. And it looks like you are with Seven and Clover Naruto." Lotus said, proud with herself that didn't help. She just went over to Door [8] along with Santa and June. Naruto just stayed behind with Clover and Seven. The blonde then went to Clover and hugged her, not caring how she will react.

"I am sorry that we couldn't find your brother but he couldn't have wander into one of the numbered doors so he must be still somewhere on this ship." Naruto said to Clover, "We'll find him. I am sure of it."

"How…?" Clover finally spoke in a small, broken tone of a girl who just watched her favorite doll fall to pieces. "You couldn't find him so how do you know he is alive?"

"Because someone wanted one of us to think so. They even made sure that if we do, the truth will come to light. Zero must want one of us to think that Snake is dead." Naruto responded.

"B-but Zero is on this ship…right?" Clover said and Naruto just smiled; normally he will taunt those who will ask such stupid questions but Clover was about to break down.

"If he wasn't he is sure giving off signs that he is. Remember had Zero always addressed where we are as 'this ship'?" Clover nodded. "Will you do the same from somewhere else to people on your ship?" Clover then did something that Naruto was hoping to do; she giggled and smiled.

"No. Thank you Naruto, I needed that. Let's go." Clover seemed to have found something to cheer her up and she went to Door [7] where Seven was already waiting. Naruto seemed to be at wits end trying to make the best of it all so he joined them at the door. They then verified their numbers at the REDs.

When the door opened, there was only nine seconds until it will close again. That was the time for Naruto to see June again. After staring at each other in the door ways, they then raced inside. Just as the doors were closing and the familiar and daunting beeping of approaching death was upon them.

"Where the hell is the RED!" Seven started to panic and the group hurried to look around the hallway that was on the other side of Door [7]. Then there was the blue device just on the other end directly across the hallway.

"There! Hurry!" Naruto yelled and his companions raced towards the DEAD that was near a wooden door. They just managed to verify their numbers there and Seven pushed down the lever with all his might. Then the beeping had halted, the denotation had been reset and stopped for a second time.

"*whew*…just how we can get used to this…?" Seven was sweating very greatly from the experience and he got up wiping his forehead clean. Clover just had to ruin it by teasing him about the whole thing. This had stirred up an argument between the two,

"ENOUGH!" Naruto released a yell that shook the hallway and got his companion's attention. "That is enough out of any of you. We are not getting out of here by fighting, we need as much people as we can to get out. You do want to escape right?" The two nodded in shame, "Good, now wait here while I look for any way out of this hallway." Not waiting for any response, Naruto left them to check out the rest of the hallway behind door [7].

The first thing he saw was the other side of the door that won't budge, no surprise. When Naruto turned left, he was greeted by an iron wall that looked like it won't move and that was it. Naruto then returned to the wooden doors that Seven was knocking on. "So this is only way to go right?" Seven didn't even look at Naruto who just nodded and looked up to see if this door had a label as to where it will lead. There was a plague that said, 'Operation Room'. "An operating room huh? I have seen this on the TV shows, there are almost nasty stuff in this rooms and even nastier stuff happening in there."

"No doubt you are thinking they have an actual living being in there are you?" Naruto said assuming and Seven just roared with laughter. Naruto could have sworn to hear a low giggle from behind; it could have come from Clover but she looked no different when Naruto turned to glimpse at her face. With all that in mind, Naruto braced himself and pushed the doors open.

Inside was a large room with more and half of the space covered by a thick, nearly complete circle of sheets. Clover then hurried to the entrance and screamed. "EEEK!" Naruto and Seven raced to see what was wrong and they both saw a human shape and sized body on a table.

"Is that…!" Seven started to panic until he noticed something off about the body. It looked so pale and smooth with no warts or spots. It was like a,

"That is just an operating dummy. They are used to train surgeons in practice surgeries." Naruto said with Clover and Seven feeling a little shameful that they didn't see it at first. Naruto was wondering if this doll was part of the puzzle.

With no other surprises left, it is time; time to Seek A Way Out!

XXXXX

Naruto was to see more of this area that must be used for operations as a means of privacy. The group noticed another table but was covered in a white cloth, a cabinet filled to the brim with chemicals, a human model, a table filled with rusty tools, another table but with clay objects on and a strange stove that seemed to be of no help. Investigating the table with the cloth on, there was another doll that only had the head and some of the torso compared to the male and complete doll.

So they tried to see if there is something on the tool and clay tables, they found a scalpel and a pair of scissors. Then Naruto noticed that there was something off about the model, like there is something that is not supposed to be there; something to be removed. Using the scissors, Naruto was able to remove a misplaced organ that resembled a liver; afterwards, he used the scalpel to slice it open. Inside he found a key.

"This doesn't look like a key to the astronomical numbers." Naruto remarked on how bland and normal it was.

"Maybe it is only supposed to be used in this room…" Clover suggested and this time, Seven agreed.

"I did check the other doors as soon as we got in here. They were all locked." Seven said so Naruto decided to check them out. The key worked in both the door near the entrance and on the other end of the room. Deciding that it should be the one closes to the wooden doorway, Naruto opened it to see a closest with cabinets and chemicals like in the operating area.

In the middle was a table with a toolbox that had the strangest lock for any toolbox; it asked for three digits as the combination to open the box. In front of it were two bottles that seemed to ooze a blue substance and a red substance in their respective bottles. There was also a note in front of the toolbox. It said of all different chemical names with the first three that equaled numbers but the other three had only question marks.

With Seven and Clover checking out the various chemical names and telling Naruto of their nickname that tells of the various elements used in all of them. It all added up to (349) which successfully opened the toolbox. Inside was the right arm of a life sized doll along with a very realistic fake heart. It was clear that there is going to be a search for body parts if they want to get anywhere out of this room.

But when Naruto placed the parts in his arms, he noticed Seven looking at some of the bottles and picked up on in his hand. Naruto asked what is was and Seven twisted the label to show it said, 'Ethylene Diamine Tartrate'. "So what has it gotten you so interested Seven? Is it that you have gotten some of your memory?" Naruto asked; it was true, back in the 1st class room, Seven complained about some memory loss that he seemed to experience ever since he first woke up here.

"Yeah. I remember something about this stuff. I don't know why it is among medicine bottles because it is not medicine." Seven said in his gruff tone and Naruto wanted to hear what it is actually. "It is more like an industrial-strength detergent. They must have used this stuff to clean their messes up. Not that I will find anything that will confirm anything in this room."

"So how did you learn about this stuff, this EDT?" Naruto asked and this time, Seven was able to give a good answer.

"I heard a story about EDT. It happened 50 years ago." Seven started, with a drifting look on his face so Naruto said nothing and listened to what Seven has the say. "There is this factory, somewhere in America, making old EDT crystals. They were makin' it to sell as industrial-strength cleaner, like I told you before. But…

A year after the factory started up… Somethin' strange started to happening with the crystals they were building. Water molecules started attaching themselves to the EDT crystals. This made 'em into some kind of mutation of the original crystals, called a "hydrate".

Once the crystal turns into a hydrate, though, it's useless as a cleaner. The factory had to just dump the crystals—as a hydrate, they were useless. But it didn't end there. After that day, the same thing started to happen in EDT factories everywhere, even ones nowhere near that first American factory.

They'd been making crystals the same way, with the same materials and the same equipment and environment. But now, all of a sudden, every single crystal they formed turned into a hydrate.

In fact, ever since that day, no factory anywhere has been able to make a pure EDT crystal. Even in EDT research done years before, they'd never gotten a hydrate. But after it happened at the first factory, it just…spread…"

Seven then came to end of his story, with Naruto listening to every word. "Thank you Seven. I think that I will remember that story." Naruto said which got the puzzled and head scratching Seven to smile.

"And I do have something to say." Naruto brought up when he finally got the chance, "June told me the story about something. Have you heard of Ice-9?" Naruto said and Seven scratched his head and then remembered something new.

"I do. I heard of it when I read about Allice." Seven said and before Naruto could ask what it was, "In Egypt. There was this princess who was a mummy. You know what those are right?" Naruto nodded. "But this mummy wasn't ordinary. She was not wrinkled or wrapped in bandages. She looked nothing like a mummy, or even that she was dead. She looked like she was merely sleeping and somehow, the Egyptians had placed Allice in ice that never melted. Not even under the hottest glaze of the sun in the desert. It had to be Ice-9." Naruto nodded, wanting to hear more. "But when the Titanic, the ship that was taking the coffin and mummy to England to be studied, sank to the iceberg, the coffin was thought to be lost. They were wrong, it was found instead lodged in an iceberg drifting in the sea but the wood wasn't as much as scratched. And that is all I ever found out."

"A mummy that looked alive…Ice-9…the sinking of the Titanic…" Naruto muttered while looking away from Seven and then raised his head with a smile. "Thank you for telling me this. I will make sure to remember it." Seven nodded and smiled as well until,

"HEY!" Clover's voice shot out from outside the medical room. "Are you just going to stay in there for hours!? Come on!"

"Sorry! We're coming!" Naruto yelled through the door and that was enough to silence her. Seven and Naruto nodded and left the bottle on the shelf before leaving the room altogether. They then decided to try out the remaining locked door with the locker key they found.

After passing through a hallway on the other side of the second door that is far away from the double wooden doors, they came across some kind of office. There was desk with writing tools but the closet was something strange for sure. The doors won't open and each of them had a different color on them.

Across from them, there was a table that had a glass cylinder where they place liquids in experiments but there was also some kind of device that the cylinder was placed on. One end was some kind of flashlight and on the other end was a screen of sorts. Naruto tried the device and the flashlight shined a beam of normal light that halted once it reached the screen.

Then Naruto remembered that he still had the bottles of colored substances. He suddenly had the idea of using the red bottle and poured some of that substance into the cylinder; after shining the light again had caused the light to… "It turned red!" Clover shouted like an excited kid on a field trip. Then there was some kind of faint sound coming from the closet, like something clinked open. Naruto then released that the door with the red square on it had unlocked when Naruto caused the screen to revive a red light. Inside was a right doll leg like to the others. After using the blue substance to turn the light blue, the closet opened to reveal a left doll leg. There was only the purple door left and Naruto then tried something; he combined the two colors to make a purple light and it opened the door to reveal a realistic stomach of a human doll.

With the doll parts in their hands, Naruto saw that the desk had a drawer. Inside he found a sheet with the man doll in the operating circle and a female one with labels on body parts he and his group kept finding. It said to have them all at different weights for some reason. With only the door leading out to be locked, they returned to the operating circle to perform some kind of experiment they are supposed to do.

After finding the missing piece to the female doll on a third table to be the chest, the group placed the pieces on the second table that he a cloth over it. They then realized that the nothing has happened. Naruto went through the paper he found in the desk and saw that both tables had scales on them which showed the weights to be not like the ones on the paper. That meant that some parts will have to be replaced in order to get this to work.

It turned out that the opposite arms and the hearts were the ones to be switched in order to make the weights just like on the piece of paper. Then there was that familiar sound of something clinking open. And it seemed to come from the table with the man doll. Checking it out, Naruto was overjoyed to find a key revealed in a hidden compartment. "Alright! We are out of here!"

Seven was overjoyed and raced all the way to the room with the door that the only one left locked. The keyhole had the astronomical symbol for [Jupiter] which was like a [4] but the upper left bar was like a [2]. Still, Naruto noticed that Clover was still staring at the man doll, like it was something she couldn't ignore or stop being interested in. "Are you okay Clover?"

"He is dead. Isn't he?" Clover said in an instant unlike the other times which caught Naruto over guard. Then he started to smile, not a sad one or a forced one but somehow he pulled a genuine smile in front of Clover.

"You are the cutest little sister anyone can ever ask for." Naruto started to say, "You have the best imagination in the world." Clover was just confused but at least she wasn't sad anymore. "I have something to give to you." Now that got Clover's curiosity. And she was given the same bookmark from the passenger room behind Door [4], the one with the four leaf Clover. "Did you know that this are considered to be good luck charms because each leaf represent something? They give **Hope** , **Faith** , **Love** and **Luck**. If you have **Hope** and **Faith** and also **Love** in your heart, you will always have good **Luck**. Snake will know that his sister will do that." Naruto finished and Clover just kept staring at the bookmark, tearing about to fall from her eyes,

"Brother…" She muttered under her breath so Naruto reached down and hugged her which got the girl to stir and shiver. But she calmed down to Naruto's next words.

"Your brother is a big boy Clover. He will be fine. I am sure of it. Zero is a big bully to separate you two and we are going to find him we can make him stop. And you will be the one to hit him where you will like okay?" Naruto finished and Clover started to brighten up at the blonde's words and she even started to giggle in a naughty tone.

"Thank you Naruto." Clover said and Naruto just nodded. "Likes go so we can find Zero and make him pay for all this!" Clover then walked off like a kid who was granted the right to get ice cream with some money to spread on a three scoop cone with her favorite flavors. Naruto just chuckled at the sight and caught up with them at the door. He used the Jupiter key to unlock the door as simple as that. The Way Out Has Been Found!

XXXXX

After getting out of the operation room and the two stories in the back of his head, Naruto ran until a map was found just like in those strange memories from before. It covered the entire 'C Deck' which showed that the rooms all led back to the hospital room after all. But with the key found, they are definitely getting somewhere.

"Naruto?" The blonde turned to see a familiar face of whom ran into Naruto's arms in happiness. Naruto smiled as he recognized the certain warmth of the figure hugging him as he hugged her too.

"Nice that you are okay June." Naruto said and waited. Waited until,

"What the fuck? How…? What the hell is this crap? I thought that we will at least find Door [9] through the two doors but we are going in a circle?!" Santa ranted as he saw the development and even looked at the map that Clover found.

"It will seem that way but let's go back and tell this to Ace. He is waiting for us to get him." Naruto said and everyone just grunted went through the door with a number. There, in the hospital room, Ace sighed as he heard the stories.

"So the doors led to an Operational Room and a Laboratory Room. They both didn't lead to Door [9] but instead had keys right? The Jupiter and Earth key." Everyone nodded. "When I said that I will wait for you to come and get me, it happened much earlier than I first thought."

"But we still haven't Snake. And there is just on more room left." Naruto brought up and no one argued about that.

"I am going in there." Clover said with newly found confidence. She will go anywhere if it meant finding her brother.

"Very well I am coming too." Ace said, "I have rested enough and I don't want to be a bother any longer. Besides, without me no one was able to get into door [3] anyway." Ace said with Naruto having this strange thought through his head,

'Oh yeah?' It confused Naruto greatly and tried to forget about it. "Then Seven?" Naruto tried to clear his mind by addressing the massive man, "Can you go with those two? They need you." Seven then looked at the two and they nodded, after all Seven will be needed along with one and four in order to make twelve which has a digital root of [3].

When the trio verified their numbers at the RED, they entered the number [3] door and disappeared after the door closed when the nine seconds were up. For the while, the others waited for them to return based on the layout of this deck according to the map they found. After a while, the door with no number on did open and the trio emerged from it; this proved that the map was right about the any of the doors ultimately leading back to the same place. But there was something wrong about their expressions.

When Naruto got close to them, "What happened?" Even though the memory was still sketchy, it was still there and somehow Naruto knew what their answer will be.

"We found Snake." Somehow that didn't raise hope in the atmosphere, their expressions were quite the opposite and Snake was not with them. "He is dead." Naruto felt like his heart was going to burst open; he had tried to get Clover to believe in her brother alive but now she thinks that it was all hogwash after seeing the dead body. If Naruto had told her the truth than she will never be happy again.

They just took their keys they found and debated on where to go next. Naruto knew that he had to do something right with Clover but the only door he go through with Clover is, "Door [1]." This way, he could find the proof he needed to be sure of who has been killing these people on board of this ship.

"Okay then." Ace said, "So you, I and Clover will go through Door [1]. Meanwhile, June, Santa, Seven and Lotus will go through door [6]." No one argued. They all went to their doors, Naruto's group back to the main staircase and through the door with the Earth symbol above the keyhole, opening to a door with the number [1] on it while the other group used the [Mercury] Elevators to the door with the number [6] on it.

Like all the times before, they have stopped in front of the RED and then verified their numbers in succession. Ace then placed his hand on the lever and looked at Naruto and Clover. "Are you ready for what is going to come?"

They all nodded and that signaled Ace to pull the lever. The door then creaked open and the group charged inside. The beeping of the detonators placed in their bracelets soon chimed in the air. They looked frantically for their lives for the DEAD. It was found to be near a door at the end of the hallway.

After catching their breath, the group entered the door to see a room. A room filled with desks, seats and maps. Most likely a map room where the plot the next course of action for the ship and if that is so, there was must be a room where the staff make sure the ship is right on course. And just like that, there was a stirring room just on the outside of the door leading away from the direction of the numbered door.

Still that was a dead end since there was another door leading out of the stirring room. The problem was the unique looking lock that was nothing like a keyhole, a RED or a card reader. The outline was in the shape of something same enough to fit in one's hand. But unless the right object is used, there were only two room to explore. It was now time: Seek a Way Out!

XXXXX

Naruto returned back to the map room where Clover just started at her feet. All this must be tough as she was like a jar with just one more, very light tap that will start the final crack that will cause it to shatter. So Naruto just left her to try and take it while trying to find a clue in this room. It seemed that all these maps judging from the one on the wall and the ones in a drawer to the wall perpendicular to the wall map.

They show a ship goring from India, around Africa through the Cape of Good Hope, straight across the Atlantic to the East Coast of America, and going straight east to Great Britain. Each port had a label on it for some reason, on either map so Naruto took note of it. Then he found a ship's log describing the same route completely so Naruto kept it too. Then the blonde looked into one of the drawers to the desk, where the captain probably wrote down the route the ship took. There, he found a pocket watch sent to a random time that Naruto still took note of but then he heard a voice behind him that was not Clover's.

"May I see that pocket watch? It may be broken, I did handle some of them in my past." It was Ace but what was he doing here? "Is that a problem?" Naruto wanted to say yes and this time,

"Yes there is!" Naruto snapped at Ace who recoiled at the yell. "I thought we all agree on who is going to search which room and if you think you can break our agreement maybe we shouldn't have decided! Take it and get out of here, I need to talk to Clover!" Naruto shoved the watch into Ace's hand, knowing what is going to do with it. Clover herself was knocked out of her depression and was not focused on him; the way Naruto wanted it to happen.

"What is it that you yelled at Ace in order to get him to leave?" Clover said with no more sadness in her tone of voice.

"I wanted to talk to you about who could have killed the man in the shower room. The rule is that only [3-5] people can open one and only [3-5] people can enter one for the DEAD. But some people had broken the rule and forced the man into door [3] to die. But who?" Naruto brought up and this time, Clover was also thinking hard still without any sadness.

"Since brother's bracelet is number [2] and the least numbers need to open door [3] will be [12] and [21]. But there is no two numbers added to [2] that will result in [21] so it has to be the total [12]." Clover brought up and Naruto nodded; in order to make this total, two numbers will have to add up to [10]. "I sure didn't do it so that means that June didn't do it. You couldn't do it either Naruto." The blonde nodded, he was [5] and there wasn't another bracelet with the same number in this game. "Lotus couldn't do it either so that leaves Santa and Seven." Naruto knew it was inevitable.

"But did they have some kind of grudge against your brother. You must know all about that at some point in the last nine years that these people will hate Snake enough to kill him." Naruto brought and Clover thought hard until her head felt like it was going to split open; but nothing had turned up. "Let's just forget about all this. We need to find out how to get out if we want to find out who killed Snake." Naruto said and by the luck of the gods, Clover nodded and gone back to searching but not in a depressed state; must be when she talked about her doubts and feelings with the one she is finding herself trusting the most after Snake.

Soon, there was nothing left to find and Ace had finally returned the watch but Naruto had a bad feeling about it; like there was something else to this whole thing. Still the blonde took it and walked into the other room with the wheels. He started looking again.

The room had a device that allowed the captain to control how the engine worked with various modes that manipulated how hard the ship's engines worked. But it was missing the handle that allowed the change to be made. So Naruto started looking again and noticed that the stirring wheel was movable and that must be part of the puzzle, 'I wonder…'

Naruto then moved the wheel according to the maps and log he found the other room and something had happened. The top handle on the wheel had fell off into Naruto's hands and there was a blackboard with times and locations on it with white letters. Still Naruto wanted to see what will happen when he completed the second half of the puzzle because he was only able to do the direction from the maps with the wheel; with the steam engine device, he could do the speeds and that was what Naruto did.

Then the black message board showed only one time while the rest was all black again. That must be the real time for something. Then Naruto remembered the pocket watch that Ace claimed to fix; he set to the time shown on the black board and placed it in the keyhole that was the same shape and size, it was a perfect fit. The door then unlocked and was able to open so Naruto send Ace to grab Clover so they all will go through the door. The Way Out Has Been Found!

XXXXX

After unlocking their way through the door with the strange lock on it, they entered the doorway and found a room filled with weird equipment, headphones and other gadgets that can't be found just anywhere. Ace called it a communications room where they send signals to other ships in times of emergence either sent or received. There was still one more door to investigate but what was on the other side was something to haunt the group for sure.

There, lying into a pool of blood, was a man dressed fully in the clothes of early century ship captains perfectly. His skin was already losing color and his muscles looked like they dried up like paint in the wind. On his wrist was a bracelet like the others and next to his body was an ax, the blade still covered in blood; somehow, this man had just recently died but who could have reached him before the group and kill him?

There was a third door but like what was to be expected, it was locked and the lock looked like an electronic one that needed a combination in order to allow the door to open. But since they still haven't tried out the communications room, they split up again to cover more space but someone would have to stay with the dead body.

XXXXX

Clover ultimately decided to stay with the body while Ace was given the communications room; Naruto didn't pay it any mind so he started searching. He then found a half music box that played a horrible tone until Naruto noticed the cylinder that had mounds to strike the strings and make the tune was wrong. The bumps were shaved of their tops to form dots and dashes for some reason.

Naruto took the cylinder and placed it into his pocket and noticed that there was desk with monitors stacked onto each other. Each of them showed a different part of the ship, no doubt that someone in this room was able to keep track of everyone; which can also allow Zero speak with them at the Main Staircase! Then the monitors on top turned all black and the four on the bottom had started to show 'Z', 'E', 'R', 'O' of the word 'ZERO'. "This guy likes to stroke his ego and play with us." Naruto muttered at the sight and left the monitors to check the desk drawer, it had a piece of paper that went like this;

012345678

0123456789abcdef

0123456789abcdefghijklmn

0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuv

Naruto was confused to the brim on all this so he pocketed and told Clover he was going to search the communications room. She just nodded and stayed in the room with the dead body. There, Ace was still looking throughout the room and couldn't find anything worth pocketing. Naruto was not certain because I did found plenty.

But he just had to get a closer look at the body in the room by turning it over. He then couldn't keep this in his mind, "Looks dead alright. The right arm had a cut around it right ula just like with the body in the shower room." Then Naruto heard a gasp, like he predicted and turned to see Clover was in shock of some kind.

"What did you just say?" Clover shouted and Naruto repeated,

"I said this body had a white ula like in the body in the shower room." Naruto was acting the ignorant until Clover dove into his arms. Her eyes were filled with tears, like a lost kid at the zoo having found her parents.

"Thank you Naruto. Thank you. You were right. That man in the shower room is not my brother!" Clover started to get loud with her excitement in tears, "His right arm is not real! His arm is fake! That man's arm is real! He is not my brother!" Naruto just held strong for poor Clover, lost between overjoyed and shocked to tears. He just remembered one of those painful memories in which he tried to tell one Clover who had killed the likely culprits as well as June but held no remorse not even when she learned the truth. Naruto then hugged Clover back and left her to take this in while he tried the communication room.

There hee found a piece of black paper and bottle of ink. He had to try something so he covered the cylinder from the captain's quarters in ink; he then rolled the cylinder on the paper like rolling pin on a bread dough. The paper then had dots and dashes on it like Morse Code and luckily for them, there was a machine to send out a signal in that code. Naruto tried it out and the drawer below it all made a sound of unlocking so Naruto checked it out.

He found a red book inside that said 'ALICE' which Naruto had the unstoppable urge that had taken him by surprise, "Isn't this supposed to say 'ALL ICE'?" Ace asked why but Naruto ignored him, trying to figure it out on his own. Naruto remembered what Seven had said about All Ice or the name given to the mummy that looked fresh and sleeping in her coffin than dead. Then Naruto opened the book and much to his dismay, there was nothing but hieroglyphs; a language that no college ever taught him to read. Then something fell between some of the pages of the book, it was a key card like the ones before. This one had the symbol of the male symbol but the arrow was pointing upwards completely and not to the side; inside the circle was a dot. After a little while, Naruto remembered from astrology class that this symbol is off Uranus; the seven planet from the Sun.

None of this was going to get them out but Naruto had a feeling that it was worth it keeping them so that is what he did. Then he realized that the monitors showing the letters of 'ZERO' were the clue to the door and placed in the combination on the door as goes:

[35 14 27 24]

And with that, the door opened with a mighty sizzle. Naruto sent for Clover to get Ace this time because they were going to get out for real. Naruto remembered trying the other doors and they all led to him dying so this one has got to be the right one. Or is it?

XXXXX

After escaping from the Captain's quarters and leaving the dead body behind the door, they went on the hallway hoping to find something but then they noticed that there was only two of us. Clover was gone! Naruto was about to look for her but then saw the pink haired girl in the hallway still looking down but there was something different about her. She was clutching her pockets that clearly had something inside, like she wanted to hide it better.

"Clover, what is in there?" Naruto asked, no room for more nonsense and under such short time. She just avoided the subject and hurried after Ace while Naruto noticed no bump behind her jacket; he checked the room and found the ax still there so the blonde released a deep breath he was holding in. He had successfully changed the course of actions. Naruto then hurried to catch up with Ace and Clover.

When they reached the end of the hallway, they found themselves back at the main staircase all over again. The others were there too and they actually had good news; they were able to find the ninth door after going through door [6]! Looks like they were going to get out but there was something that popped up and ruin it all; this time, it wasn't Clover.

"Don't move or she dies!" Now that could have been Ace and Lotus but it wasn't. Ace never went through the boiler room and into the cargo hold where a gun was lying in. Instead it was Santa holding the gun…at June!

End of Chapter 16.

 ***Hope it isn't too much for one go but I had to make this special as I already wrote the room escape puzzles so I see no reason to write all over again. Only some parts that are to be different and change the end result. Just one more chapter left and I can officially call this crossover completed!**

 **How were the firework? My view of them got ruined when the humility in the air from the earlier rain had formed a cloud from all the smoke left by the fireworks. It clouded most of them so I was barely able to enjoy the fireworks. Hope you had a better time than I did. Let's wait for next year and wish for a better fireworks display than this one! Enjoy the rest of summer!***


	17. The Real Good Ending!

999

The Real Good Ending! Goodbye and See You Soon, Zero!

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or 999.**

 _Previously on 999: 9 Shinobi Behind 9 Doors with 9 Hours_

 _After escaping from the Captain's quarters and leaving the dead body behind the door, they went on the hallway hoping to find something but then they noticed that there was only two of us. Clover was gone! Naruto was about to look for her but then saw the pink haired girl in the hallway still looking down but there was something different about her. She was clutching her pockets that clearly had something inside, like she wanted to hide it better._

 _"Clover, what is in there?" Naruto asked, no room for more nonsense and under such short time. She just avoided the subject and hurried after Ace while Naruto noticed no bump behind her jacket; he checked the room and found the ax still there so the blonde released a deep breath he was holding in. He had successfully changed the course of actions. Naruto then hurried to catch up with Ace and Clover._

 _When they reached the end of the hallway, they found themselves back at the main staircase all over again. The others were there too and they actually had good news; they were able to find the ninth door after going through door [6]! Looks like they were going to get out but there was something that popped up and ruin it all; this time, it wasn't Clover._

" _Don't move or she dies!" Now that could have been Ace and Lotus but it wasn't. Ace never went through the boiler room and into the cargo hold where a gun was lying in. Instead it was Santa holding the gun…at June!"_

"Santa! Have you finally gone mad!?" Naruto yelled to see the one person he was protecting slip his grasp and now was in the clutches of a boy with a gun.

"Shut up! IF anyone is going to escape, then it is going to me! If you want to live, then help me escape and since you all are so smart, than you will figure out another to escape!" Santa pressed the golden gun into the scalp of June's head, making everyone cringe. "Now I want Ace and Lotus to come with me. I need their numbers to get out of here. Now!" The two said people flinched and reluctantly approached the large doors with the number [9] on it. They wordlessly verified their numbers and Santa did both himself and June's numbers and pulled the lever. The door opened and the three captives were forced through the door by Santa. This left Naruto, Seven and Clover in the altar, with barely an hour left. They could hear the water coming but their total could not open the number [9] door.

"Naruto…" Clover clutched at the blonde's arm like a life line with eyes showing just how scared she was. "What are we going to do?" Seven wanted to know too but both of them just noticed that Naruto had one of his hands to his ear. Like he was trying to listen to something. With nothing else to do, Clover and Seven both put their hands to their ears and not said a word or budged from their spot. Then they heard it. A faint knocking sound of something banging at wood. And it was getting louder every time they hear it.

Naruto then looked at the coffin in the back and just as he somehow knew, the thumping noise came from inside. But the coffin was locked with an electric lock that seemed to have no apparent rule from inside the room and there is no use looking outside. "How are we supposed to figure out how to open the door now!?" Seven shouted while Clover was shifting her legs so Naruto shifted his attention to her,

"May I see what is in your pockets Clover? It is a good time as any." Naruto asked and the girl nodded her head after a few minutes of silence. It was the same note that struck Naruto's mind as familiar.

"I found it in the hands of the captain in the captain's quarters but I thought it was important enough for someone to hide it. So I thought I needed to hide it too." Clover explained thinking she was in trouble but Naruto just took the note and read it out loud,

Truth had gone, truth had gone, and truth had gone,

Ah, now truth is asleep in the darkness of the sinister hand.

Naruto knew what to type in for the combination; 1438342. He then tried it on the lock and the coffin burst open slowly with the hiss of released steam. And what came out was something to freeze a mountain like Seven in his place and put a little girl like Clover into tears, tears of happiness that had been clinging onto a dear hope. "Brother!" Snake was inside the coffin, garbed in a strange robe but the tall statue, the closed eyes and the shaggy hair gave him away as the prince from the main staircase.

"Clover…?" Snake muttered like a man, speaking after nearly starved to death. He was then tackled by the blur of pink and tears that was Clover. It took all his strength not to fall over like a twig.

"Oh brother…you are alive! You are alive! I thought you were dead!" Clover slobbered into his nearly bare chest but before Snake could respond, Clover left the warmth of her brother and went to Naruto; all before standing on her toes and kissing him on the cheek! "Don't tell June but I will like to have a big brother you are in my life." Clover said as innocent as she could be while hugging the blonde who didn't as much as blush. Only remembering something terrible that he wished he hadn't from a timeline that was by far the darkest: his ultimate failure to stop a poor and defenseless girl into becoming a crazed killer.

" _Clover! They were innocent! Snake wasn't killed!" Naruto brought himself to speak. "That man in the shower room wasn't Snake! Snake had a fake left arm and that man had a real one! Santa and Seven didn't kill him! Snake was never dead!" What happened next will haunt Naruto the grave; Clover, instead of saying sorry, laughed. Laughed like a madman with a bloody ax in hand._

" _So? They died anyways and now I know that my brother was alive after all. Oh well. They couldn't come back and complain because I am leaving this with my brother. And since you have finally learned the truth and told me, here is your reward." Naruto was confused and scared at that Clover's maniacal smile of a murderer never left. Then Clover did something he will never expect for her; she kissed him on the lips! He then felt the greatest pain since seeing the remains of June only on his back. It felt hot, like lava oozing on top of him. He couldn't move at all, only see Clover leave while dragging the ax along with all the bracelets in hand. "Farewell Naruto. You could have been alive and been my new brother but I don't need another one in my life. You just aren't lucky enough but you are a great kisser though."_

"Naruto…" The voice of the gentleman and blind price that Snake is had awoken Naruto from his musing and from walking down run down memory lane. "I thank you for being there for my sister. For keeping her on the right path and for being the second brother she never had. I always wanted someone I can count on with the only family I have left."

This time, Naruto did feel a little warm on the cheeks. Being praised by Snake who is the calmest out of the strangers and possibly the most level headed and sharp one as well as being hugged by a little girl like Clover. But the big question has finally been remembered; how are they going to get out of the ship. There was another door next to the coffin that one will never see once they entered the altar but just how are they going to get through it. "That's it!" Naruto said and he reached in his pocket to and took something familiar; Snake's bracelet and it was working somehow.

"I was always very good with this things. I used to have a friend who founded a watch fixing club in college. He showed me everything there is to it." Naruto said with a smirk and everyone just smiled now with the number [2] bracelet, they total is now [18] which has the digital root of [9]! "But can we try something else first?"

"We don't have the time for it!" Seven protested but Naruto was not to be stirred anymore it would seem.

"We have the time to do it Seven, now please everyone scan your numbers at the RED." Naruto ignored it and placed his hand on the RED and an asterisk appeared. Soon everyone did and Naruto pulled the lever, the door opened all the same until nine seconds pasted and the door closed.

"Now what!? We all can get in." Seven pointed out and Naruto nodded completely until he spoke up again.

"Sure we can but now we do the second phase of my own experiment and this time, Clover and I will use our bracelets as well as the one that Clover has in her pocket." Naruto said while facing Clover. The others gasped and Clover turned red at the cheeks and stuck her tongue at Naruto.

"So you knew the whole time didn't you?" She said in a teasing tone and indeed she took out a bracelet that said the number [0]. Naruto then stated that with that number, it will only take both him and Clover to get through the door but instead they got an error message. Apparently this bracelet only said [0] but it is not. After some experimenting, it was agreed that something was up and this was instead the number [6] bracelet. Someone among them had the real number [0] bracelet but it was all so complicated they decided to not use this bracelet.

They used the door with their four numbers and verified them at the DEAD in the hallway on the other side. They came across two doors each with its own lock. One of them was a keyhole that had the image of a trident with a cross for a handle. The other was a key reader with a symbol and a familiar one to Naruto, it was like the Male symbol facing completely upward with a dot in the center of the circle.

Naruto took out the same security key with the same symbol as the latter and swiped the card which successfully opened the door. He had to settle down everyone and explain here he found the key. They all forgot about and continued to follow Naruto though the door only to find a library. And a large one at that, Naruto couldn't plainly see how all the books got on their shelves.

Then something had happened and it made no sense at all. Naruto remembered something that he hadn't before when he awoke in that cell down below. It was a voice with no gender that told him that, {Alive sleeps in a chamber past the forest of knowledge.} It must be this library but what was that about a chamber past it? Anyway, it was time to search for something as usual; Seek A Way Out!

XXXXX

He tried to see what all the books on the shelves said and there were a lot he could make out from his college studies but the others were not so much. That is until Naruto saw that there was a shelf with the least amount of books, only four. And the spines made no sense as they read in order from top to bottom,

E P N O

R E E H

N I D F

L U B B

Somehow it hit Naruto as he need to switch the books and he did until it read now from top to bottom; OPEN HERE FIND BULB. Not knowing what it was talking about, Naruto did it anyway and indeed found some kind of light bulb in a compartment next to the books.

With that done, he looked downstairs. There he found a closed off space with three bulb sockets but with only one bulb, it was impossible to solve this puzzle. So he tried the other books on this level. Among them, there was a book that stood out from the others so Naruto took it out. Upon the others urging him to open it, they were in for a surprise when it was something of pop-up book that said 'SE-5'. With that aside, he kept looking until there was a window case with a lock that required one to rotate the numbers into the right order to open. Thankfully it was right in front of Naruto's eyes as he looked at the spine of the books from inside; 632415.

Once he got the case open, there was another bulb inside just like from upstairs. Naruto was getting places. But with every checked out, Naruto tried upstairs again and found another pop-up book that said 'KR-7' with the letters upside down. Then he found another book that said 'HEAD' with its letters. He then realized that in the enclosed space, there was a place for these tree books so they all must say something together. It took another look at the books until he found a bulb behind one where he hadn't looked.

So it was time for Naruto to try them out and once he got the pieces in, they all made the message: Sheldrake-5. Naruto realized that he had seen this name before so he hurried downstairs until he knew where he had seen or in this case heard the name. It was the one he couldn't make out as first but the one who did the famous experiment with the pictures like in the passenger room behind door [4]. Lotus said that a biochemist named Sheldrake had conducted the experiments. Naruto reached where he and the others found a series of books under the same name but was separated by volume number.

But before he could try it, Naruto was approached by Snake who asked about how Naruto is familiar with these experiments that were not very well known but somehow were reverent to everything that happened on this ship. Snake then told Naruto that a Nonary Game had happened nine years ago and he was one of the children kidnapped and placed there. He talked about how he tried to keep everyone together with a four leaf clover while telling everyone what the leaves meant; **Hope** , **Faith** , **Love** and **Luck**!

When Naruto brought up that Santa had told him those exact words, Snake said that Santa and his younger sister were also kidnapped and placed in the same ship as him. He kept telling Naruto more about the game until he had to tell Naruto the one thing the blonde never wanted to find out; the Nonary Game ended when a little girl died. When Hinata Hyuga died.

Naruto felt like he entire world collapse and now doubted everything that he had to see, had to feel, had to experience in order to see his best friend again and all this time, she was dead!? Naruto then felt a huge headache, like something was cracking in his head like an egg or something. When it hatched, everything became clearer; Naruto knew who Zero was along. It was Hinata, the girl who was there and yet she died nine years ago! It must have been the field, making a paradox in which June or Hinata or Zero is waiting for something to happen in that time period form nine years later that will save the life of a little girl put to death.

With all that aside, Naruto walked to his destination. He chose to take away the book from the Sheldrake series and the number five volume from the series. It revealed a button to be pressed. So when Naruto tried it, there was a rumbling sound coming from upstairs and alerted everyone in the library.

When they checked it out, they found a compartment with a keyboard and an inscription above that said; XIII XIV X XIII. It took a while to figure out what to do since the keyboard won't allow any numbers to be punched in but no one needed to when Naruto punched in the word 'DEAD'. That caused the door to unlock, The Way Out Has Been Found!

XXXXX

And as they did go through the revealed doors, they found a very messy room. One that was littered with parts, wires and other machines. It was also a very dark room with barely any light. As they got closer, they had found traces of someone observing the entire ship, designed the bracelets and REDs and DEADs as well as writing blueprints for everything to work.

With all this mess, it was hard to get around but they still needed to get out. Time To Seek A Way Out!"

XXXXX

The first thing Naruto did was check out one of the machines which was like a computer only there is only one thing on the screen. It looked like a magic square but instead of a number, it seemed that the rows needed to equal to a number according to the Hexadecimal system. It took a while since once a button was pushed, the nearby square were all affected as well as either on or off. But Naruto got it done and something opened to reveal a miniature coat of arts placed on a shield shaped object that was small enough to fill the palm of Naruto's hand. The blonde pocketed it and kept looking and found a lot more machines like that and each of them provided an object like that one until Naruto had collected four of them.

The fourth one was the most notorious because Naruto found it in a coffin like those they keep mummies in but there was no mummy in there. Only the fourth shield piece and a key that just happened to have the trident symbol from before. Snake called it the symbol of [Neptune], the god of the seas.

Then Naruto had found a computer that didn't do anything but there was a compartment that had four shapes of small shield like the ones that Naruto has been finding. So when he was about to place on in, he saw that there was a strict code as to where they are to be placed in. The first one was the one that resembled a helm in reference to where it was uncovered. The computers roared to life and showed that Naruto had to spate the numbers so their totals will make the right digital root.

The next was the cross along with different digital root numbers than before and Naruto had to try different combinations in order to get it right. After that one was the code shield from when Naruto had to work with Morse Code and there was different numbers again and this time, there were less numbers allowed to use. Lastly was the one from the coffin and this one was the hardest so it took a while trying the various combos in order to complete the puzzle.

When they all were done, the door out was unlocked and now they can get out of the room and move on! But before they could, Seven said that he finally got his memory back. He remembered past being a detective assigned to find the kidnapped children, tracking the culprits to the dock and getting captured, waking up in the cell and finding himself in another strange room. It was one that was hollow but filled with children. He still moved for the cloth back in his cell, that he used to make a rope for the children to climb up to their safety.

When he was leading the children out of the vent and up a spiral staircase, he noticed that one of those was missing so Seven risked his chances and time to find her again. Two young boys accompanied Seven and they found her, still in the hollow room. All the way until she was burnt alive without remorse. That will still haunt Seven for his failure but he just couldn't remember anything after that.

With all that in mind, Naruto was just about solved what had happened nine years ago and how it would have led to the present day in this very ship. But the important part was getting to the others where ever they may be. With the steel door unlocked, the Way Out Has Been Found!

XXXXX

Now they managed to get out of the library and through the dark rooms, the group found themselves in a large room with a pair of large doors that had the label in big letters, {INCINERATOR}. It meant that they will have to go through it in order to get out. Once they opened the doors, they were in a massive shock. On the ground in the Incinerator, Santa was clutching his stomach in pain. And near him was Ace but in his hands were the gold gun and he was holding Lotus in his arms as his own hostage!

"Lotus! Santa!" Naruto yelled out to them while Ace smirked,

"I see you were able to make it and you managed to find Snake who was alive all this time. Zero is a cunning and ruthless bastard. But you are too late, with my keys I can get out of this blasted ship and be free from all this madness and the lot of you." Ace taunted them but Naruto was still not going to bow down to this madman. He just stared down the old man and took out something that no one ever thought was on him.

"I never thought I will have to do this Ace. Now I have no choice. Inside this bag are chunks of ice mixed in with some other ice found in freezer. With it, I will make sure that you won't escape from us…" Naruto trialed doff by moving faster than a fox and stopped in front of the RED that connected to the huge door leading out of the Incinerator, "By smashing the lock!"

"NO! You won't sacrifice innocent lives to get what you want!" Ace protested now pointing his gun at Naruto who just smirked.

"That is what we say 'the pot calling the kettle black' Ace. And unlike you I will!" Naruto readied the bag filled with ice with the RED in sight despite everyone reaching to stop him. Ace then was about to pull the trigger but Naruto heard it anyway and as fast before, the blonde threw the bag instead into the direction of the old man with the gun! And just as the barrel was going to shoot he first bullet, there was an explosion in the air that burned at Ace's bare hand and caused him to drop both the gun and Lotus.

"Lotus!" Naruto called out for the dancer who fled before the explosion could harm her. She then reached Naruto and hide her face into his chest as the sheer heat from the explosion ate away at Ace's skin leaving something out of a horror flick but Ace was still breathing and alive. "That is what you get for letting your own fear guide you, you pathetic old man." Naruto looked down on the withered form of Ace. "You did it didn't you?" Naruto knew it was the worst possible time but it was better than any because he was going to arrest Ace on charges only he knew about and no one else other than Ace did.

"You killed the ninth man. You killed the man in the shower room. You even killed the man in the captain's quarters." Naruto said, "It was you! You did it!" Everyone gasped at the claim. "You were the only one who could have lied to the ninth man into thinking he can break the rules of the game so easily and that led to his death. You figured we will be separated so you used this chance to kill the man you believed to be Snake all because of your Prosopagnosia. You couldn't tell the difference in the face only to be decided by a man who was as tall as Snake and wore his clothes and bracelet. Finally you took the key to the captain's quarters from me after I found while looking in the map room. That was how you killed those people and to killed them out of fear. Fear that they might be used by Zero to inform everyone about you as the CEO of a company that kidnapped sixteen children and put them to death!" Ace then chuckle darkly, like he was playing the villain in a play.

"So you have figured it all out huh? You are clever, too clever for your own good. You should be glad that my other hand still has the bracelet and it still works otherwise we will never get out." Ace said as he barely got up from his place on the floor. That was when an alarm was heard in the room and red emergency lights dyed the walls scarlet. {The incineration phase will happen in twenty minutes, please evacuate the incinerator at once.}

But before anyone could exit, the doors close and they were locked too. Apparently this was some sick joke that no one laughed at, not even the jokester who told it. After a good ten minutes of trying to get out, a strange machine had emerged from the floor. It looked like something out of a science fiction novel with a keyboard and a monitor connected to some other machine.

{If you wish to escape, please solve the puzzle on this machine and the incineration phase will halt and shut down. Also if the puzzle is solved, the way out will be revealed as well. Better hurry…hurry...} A broken voice had replaced the margining computer voice from before until it died in silence.

But Naruto was ignoring it because he saw the one thing he was searching for; all this time, June was on the wall with her fever back from the main staircase and Naruto never noticed. June said the exact same thing from the submarine room and the altar from the other timelines before disappearing. But then Naruto saw some lights and felt like he was stretching his mind to something altogether and had to shout "Hinata!"

When he did, he then saw it. He saw a little girl who was in the same room as Naruto but she was all alone and the incinerator was in its incinerating phase. She was scared, she had the key, a puzzle that she couldn't solve and was awaiting her death. But instead she sensed someone in the room that she didn't see but she knew it was there. He was there.

" _Naru-chan?" Hinata shouted out in hopes she will be heard_.

"Hinata! I can hear you! Are you in the Incinerator?"

 _"Yes I am and I can't solve this puzzle! Am I going to die!?" Hinata asked of this voice with fear in her eyes that leaked her tears._

"Don't worry! I don't know what is going on but I am going to get you out of there! Could face the machine as I am!?" Naruto shouted out loud to everyone listening and looking at him like the blonde had finally gone mad.

 _"Okay…I am right now." Hinata said as she indeed faced the monitor that reflected her teary face like a twisted mirror._

"I will solve the puzzle, follow my every move okay? I only need a few minutes." Naruto said while trying to focus on the Sudoku puzzle that emerged in the screen once he and the younger Hinata had powered up. And after a few minutes, they both completed the puzzle and all heard the same thing.

{The puzzle has been solved. The Incineration phase has shut down.} Like the computer said, the red lights turned off and the nozzle's shut down and no flames ever emerged from their muzzles. And the monitor showed only one thing, that all but Santa, June and the Ninth man should use their numbers to get out. So they tried and the door opened, it turned out that this door that they thought to have a nine didn't; it was the lower case 'q' which meant [26] in the hexadecimal system. And their numbers all add up to [26].

As they raced through the hallway which led to a spiral staircase, they never once took a breather because their freedom was just at the end of the staircase. Seven was carrying Ace who was bound in the limbs and the mouth so he won't try anything. Clover was trying to help her brother make up the staircase himself. Pretty soon another door was in sight so Naruto pulled on it. It release very easily but Naruto had to shield his eyes as the light he saw on the other side wasn't from any electric lamp. It was the sun.

And as Naruto saw that the younger Seven rowing a rowboat filled with children as they watched their ship prison sink into the sea, he noticed that he wasn't in any ship and there was no sea water. They were on a building that only looked like a ship from the inside and nothing on the outside. The building was in the middle of the desert! "Could this be the building used in the experiment to tap into the Metamorphic Field?" Lotus asked and Naruto could only nod as he traversed the surroundings with his eyes that were adjusting to the sunlight of early morning.

They all felt and heard something clink open and fall to the ground. It was the bracelets; Zero did say that the bracelets will only come off if the wearer's heart beat reaches zero of when they escaped. In this case, it was the brighter and second set of circumstance that caused them to fall.

"Okay you little buggers. Let's just set where the detonators are." Naruto said as he took one and opened the side that faced their flesh on their arms or sleeves. "What? There is nothing in this bracelet that looks like a detonator, more like an ATM Card or something." Everyone took this in; maybe not all of them had bombs in their bodies after all, only the ones that Zero had planned for them to die. That sure was anticlimactic.

Then they found something else, a jeep on the ground around the building. Their excitement overriding their systems, the overjoyed people raced to the jeep and found it full to the liter of gas in the tank and it even had water jugs that were somehow preserved in this heat. Anyway, they took the jeep and now were driving down the desert in hopes of catching up to Hinata and Kiba.

Meanwhile, they interrogated Madara who was placed in the cramped truck about why he caused the Nonary Game years ago. It turned out that Naruto was right on the money about him wanting to see through the eyes that showed everyone a world of various and distinctive faces just for once. Madara also admitted to finding the coffin of Alice hoping to find the body but instead found a very rare root that acts like medicine to vision disabilities. This root pathed the root to his successfully company but even all the medicine it can make, Madara's own disability was not to be cured of. He was still going to be charged with kidnapping and murder once they find a city to settle in.

Naruto was thinking hard on when he last saw Hinata. It was some months after the rabbits were found dead in their hutch at the elementary school. The police turned out empty until Naruto and Hinata found the culprits. A bunch of older kids from a rival school had dosed a stray kitten with kerosene and were planning on burning it alive! Naruto charged in without thinking while Hinata fled with the kitten and for the police. Once the cops arrived on the scene, they quickly subdued the mid school kids and stopped them from trying to kill Naruto; the least the blonde boy had gotten off with some bruises and some missing teeth but he was going to do just fine. The evening when the children were jailed for animal abuse and murder, Naruto and Hinata were enjoying the sunset after hearing that Hinata's family was going to move away. They shared their last moments together before ironically calling a doll of Hinata that Naruto had made as June.

After taking another trip down memory lane, Clover, who was driving for some reason, had pointed out something or someone. It was a fair tanned woman striking the hitchhiker's pose while wearing Egyptian clothing! "Need a lift?" Clover said and the woman nodded,

"My name is Alice and I do need a lift to where ever you are going. Thank you." And that was to be the ultimate end to Naruto and the eight strangers in a game of life and death known as the Nonary Game that also drove secrets long forgotten out of the shadows. It was to be never forgotten, for generations of these nine unlikely strangers together in one place under nine hours to escape out of a ninth door.

End of Story.

 ***And there you have it; me trying to write an entire game based on a puzzle game. I know most people don't like others finding out how to complete the game before they even have their first chance at it. But I just had to get this out of my head.**

 **If you still don't like it. That is fine, I am planning of just leaving it to rest at the bottom of my list someday. Still tell me what you think and see you soon!***


End file.
